A Tale of Three Potters
by chibixbakura
Summary: About Harry's children time at Hogwarts, with a new evil on the rise.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: First off, incase you didn't know, I don't own the characters or setting that has been thought up by J.K. Rowling. While keeping canon in mind while writing this, creative licenses have been taken with many of the characters and some things have been changed out of canon. This story goes along with one called: Sins of the Fathers by RenMacKree. They are supposed to be read together in order to get the full story of what is going on. This version will follow the three Potter children, and the chapters will switch between them. Most of the time it will be one chapter done with just one Potter, but there will be chapters that might not happen in. Without further a due, chapter one.

Chapter one:

The Train Ride

Lily was excited. It was to be her first year at Hogwarts and currently they were sitting in the car, driving to the train station. She was finally eleven, and wouldn't be left behind again. Her older brother James had told her all kinds of stories about the things he did at Hogwarts. The brown haired fourteen year told was on the quidditch team, the seeker, and told Lily had well he did on in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. James had a lot of friends at school too, ones he had already told her she could go to anyone of them if she had problems at school, since she knew James was assuming she'd get into Gryffindor like he did. Lily wasn't sure she liked all of James' friends, though his girlfriend, also on the quidditch team, seemed nice enough. James had ran off during the summer to be with his friends without telling anyone, and everyone worried a lot about him. Lily figured he didn't mean any harm and was just wanting to see all of his friends.

Then there was her other brother. Albus, though she kept having to remind herself that he didn't like being called Albus and would rather go by Severus. Severus, while having natural brown hair, used some magic to turn it, and keep it, blond. It at least didn't make Lily stand out as being the only Potter child to have bright red hair, since it looked like they all had different hair colors. Severus was also the only one of them to have green eyes. She knew Severus didn't get along much with James, but she didn't think it was too bad. She knew Severus was in Slytherin, and James kept telling her that being in Slytherin was a bad thing. It couldn't be a bad thing though, since Severus was in it and even their father had made the commit about there being some good people from Slytherin.

Her father, James, and Severus had all found their best friends on the train, though in James' case he ended up hanging out with the Gryffindor Quidditch team right away but that still counted, so she was convinced she'd meet her best friend on the train too. It was going to be wonderful! She heard a noise behind her and turned around. Her black cat, Raya, had woken up. Both of her brothers had owls, Severus had a snowy white one and James had a brown one, and she wanted to different. Severus had bought this cat for her, and she loved it dearly. "Shh, you need to be quiet, we're almost there," Lily told her cat.

She wasn't even listening to what her parents or brothers were saying. It was probably best to say, what her parents and James were saying. Ablus was being quiet. No, it was Severus, right? She had a hard time remembering that because James and their parents always called him Albus, though she wasn't sure why since Severus wanted to be called Severus and not Albus.

When the car stopped, Lily wanted to just run out and go right to Platform 9 ¾. She couldn't of course, because she also wanted to stay good bye to her parents. This was going to be the longest she had ever been away from them. That would be okay though, as her brothers would be there with her. She hoped she got into Gryffindor. She even loved the colors that were there. Red and Gold. Much better than any other house, plus it was where James was. If she did end up in another house, she wanted to be put into Slytherin, because that was where Severus was.

It didn't take them long to get to the train, and the moment they were in sight and could get on Severus was gone. He had went right into the train, leaving them there. Lily didn't understand his need to get on so quickly. Maybe he was just as excited as she was and so he wanted to rush to get onto the train. That made the most sense to her. She turned to her parents, giving them both a hug. "Bye Mom, bye Dad!" She said brightly.

"I hope you have fun," her mother told her, giving her a big hug.

"I'm sure you'll do great," her father told her, giving her a hug as well.

"Come on Lily, let's get going," James said, grabbing her arm. Lily nodded and waved good bye to her parents one last time before getting onto the train with James.

It was only moments after they got on the train that Lily found herself alone. She suddenly felt panicked. Why would he just leave her here? There were so many people around and she didn't know where to go or what to do. She knew James wouldn't lose her on purpose, right?, so it had have been an accident. If he was going to end up somewhere, it would be with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She didn't know where that was, and she didn't know where Severus had run off too either. She wished she knew were some of her cousins were, as Hugo was starting this year as well, or where her friend Avania Longbottom was. Avania was the daughter of Neivulle Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, and was a family friend. Avania would be starting this year as well. Why couldn't James wait to get on the train until one of them had gotten here instead of getting on the train and… oh right, she was sure James had done it on accident.

After a few moments of just standing there, Lily went into one of the empty carts. Part of the reason she had been so excited to come to Hogwarts was because she wouldn't be all alone any more with everyone away at school. They all ran off every year, and she had wanted to go with them. Severus had changed since he had started coming here, and she didn't know why. He had been worried about getting placed into Slytherin, and that was where he had ended up. She still didn't see anything wrong with that. Hopefully, soon she would be sitting with some people and wouldn't still be alone even though she was going to Hogwarts…

Not long after she had been sitting there, what looked to be another first year student came into the cart. He had blond hair that looked to be gelled back, light skin, and grayish silver eyes. Those eyes were different and she wondered if she had seen any one with eyes like that before or not. He also had a white ferret with him, poking its head out from behind his clothes. "Hello, mind if I sit here?" he asked.

Before Lily could even respond, another blond came into the cart. This one, however, she knew. Avania. She was holding what looked to be a magazine in her arms, "Quibbler?" she asked, holding out a magazine to the blond boy she hadn't gotten the name of yet.

This was rather amazing. She had gone from being alone to having two people there! She bet one of them was going to be her best friend, because people always met their best friends on the trains, right? Right. She was already friends with Avania, but maybe she'd become best friends with this blond boy. That would be great! "Of course you can sit here. My name's Lily, it's nice to meet you," she said with a smile. It had been Severus that told her not to just throw the Potter name around. He said something about ending up like James if she did that, but she didn't understand what he meant by that. Still, she trusted her bother's words and only gave her first name. "Avania! It's great to see you! Aren't you excited to be going to school?" She then turned to the blond boy. "Oh, this is Avania, and Avania this is… um… the nice boy I just met." Maybe they'd all get into the same house or something. Wouldn't that be great!

"Scropius. Nice to meet you both," the blond boy said. He took out his ferret and held it out. "And this is Draconia." Scropius? That name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it so she stopped thinking about it. It wouldn't matter. Could ferrets even be school pets? She didn't think they could, but that didn't mean they couldn't. It was so cute, and if she wasn't afraid it would bite her or something she would have pet it. She had heard that ferrets were mean, even though Draconia seemed really nice.

Avania smiled at Scropius and Lily, before taking a seat. "Hello, did you know that ferrets have magical properties? My mother said they turn into blonde boys..." she trailed off as she sat next to Lily and looked over to her. "But he is cute."

"Is this your first year?" Lily asked Scropius. The ferret was cute, she had to agree with Avania on that. She hadn't heard about the whole ferrets have magic properties. "I didn't know ferrets had magical powers," she said. She thought it would be fun to have a pet with magic powers, and wondered if her cat would have any magical powers. What kind of powers would a ferret have? Could it do something cool?

Scropius started laughing at that, and Lily didn't understand why. "I've heard that too, it's amazing what animals can do." He was laughing so loud and hard that it looked like he couldn't breath. She felt like she was missing something. Why was is so funny? She watched as he ran a hand through his hair and it seemed to be filled with hair gel. Once he had calmed down, "is this your first year too?"

She figured that answered her question. He was a first year. See they could be best friends! They just needed to end up in the same house and everything would be perfect! "It is my first year! My two older brothers are already going in here though. There names are James and Alb- Severus, he likes to be called Severus. Oh, and it's Avania's first year too!"

As the train started to move, she watched the door to open again. Wow, she really was popular! She wasn't alone or anything! She knew Hogwarts was going to be fun and she wouldn't be all alone! The people who had come in this time were her cousins Rose and Hugo. Hugo was a first year student. He had short, brownish/red hair and brown hair and on the thin side. Rose had red hair that was bushy like her mother's, and had green eyes. Rose was out going and in the same year as her brother Severus. Hugo was much more soft spoken than his sister, and Lily loved them both. "Hi Lily. I guess those stinky brothers of yours left you to the wolves. I'll just have to teach them to be nicer," she smiled brightly at Lily, "So who are your new friends?" she asked.

Lily figured that Rose and Hugo already knew Avania, so Rose had to be asking about Scropius. "Scropius and, Draconia" It looked like Scropius beat her to introducing him. That was okay, as long as everyone knew each other things would be good. "You can sit by me if you want." Scropius had already sat down during the time of discussing them all being in their first year and Rose showing up.

Avania looked up from the Quibbler she had started reading, "hello Rose, did you have a good holiday?" She then held out a copy of the Quibbler, "Care to read the Quibbler? There's an exciting piece about your mother's new potion on page 18."

Rose kept smiling, "I'm Rose. It's nice to meet you. I guess you're all first years," she laughed a little. "Don't worry about what house you get into or up holding the traditional attitude. Some people pride themselves on that bull." When Rose said that, Lily couldn't help but think she had someone in mind when she said that. "Just be yourself. Now, it doesn't look like there is enough room for everyone in here, so I'm going to go and bug someone else. You guys have fun." Lily watched Rose leave, and Hugo sit down.

Avania turned to Hugo. "Would you like to read the article? There is a very fetching picture of your family, however I think you are blinking." She handed him a copy of the Quibbler. Lily felt she should read it too. She had hear about her aunt's new potion and thought it was great that her Aunt was so smart. Rose was smart too, and she figured she had to have gotten it from her mother. "What about you Scropius? Fancy a Quibbler?"

Lily took a copy too when both Hugo and Scropius took one to read. "Aren't you exited about finally coming to school Hugo?" she asked as she quickly flipped to the article about her aunt. _Hermione Weasley has done it again! _Of course her aunt had done something amazing; she always seemed to be doing things like that. There was even a picture of Hermione, Ron, Rose and Hugo in it. Hugo was blinking, but she didn't see the problem with that. Looking through the article, she noticed her father was in the article too. _Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron's brother in law, says, "Hermione has always been cleaver, it just took time for everyone to notice." _She was even in the article! That was so cool! _Potter's three children, James, Albus, and Lily will be joining their cousins at Hogwarts this year." _

Before she could finish reading everything in it, Scropius looked up from the paper. His eyes wide, and she felt something had to be wrong. "Lily, you're a Potter?"

Lily was quiet a moment. Was it a problem she was a Potter? Severus had told her that people might treat her differently just because of her name. It didn't seem fair if that was the case now. Scropius was supposed to be her best friend, or at least become her best friend because he was the first person she met on the train, but he looked like he was in shock or something and it made Lily a little nervous. "Um, I'm a Potter. Lily Luna Potter."

Scropius suddenly had a big smile on his face, before putting the paper down and leaning forward. "There's no problem, no problem at all. I'm a Malfoy, is that a problem?" Lily almost missed it, but Scropius shuddered when he said his last name. Did he not like his name or something? She didn't understand why a person would dislike their name. Did he think she wouldn't like him because of his name or something? "Don't worry about names. Rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he muttered.

Avania looked at Hugo and then at Lily and smiled. ""I agree with Scorpius, I don't particularly like last names. Nargals like to hide in them. My mother warned me about them." she leaned in to whisper the last part as she fingered her charm around her neck. "If you want, I could give you one of my charms to protect you. Draconia would want to be protected too."

Scropius gave her an odd look, but Lily felt if Avania said Nargals liked to hide last names than it was true. "I don't think there's any problem with your last name," she shook her head. Wasn't the Malfoy family someone James had told her to watch out for after hearing their father's stories about his name here? The Malfoy family weren't supposed to be good people, but Scropius was so nice! She'd have to tell James sometime that he was wrong about his thoughts.

Scropius looked like he was going to responded, but they were cut off by a witch with the snack cart came around. Instead of saying something, he took out a giant wad of Galleons and Sickels. "I'll take the whole lot please, and extra cauldron cakes and sugar quills." He then looked at everyone else in the cart, "I love sugar quills."

Lily went into her pocket, wanting to by something too, but she quickly remembered that James had been given the money to hold onto for the three of them. He had forgotten to give her any, so she couldn't get anything. She was half tempted to go and find him to remind him he was supposed to give money to Severus and her, as if he forgot to give it to her he probably forgot to give some to Severus as well. She was having fun right now, and she'd probably end up lost if she went looking for her brother. She'd just go and talk with him once they got to Hogwarts. It wouldn't be hard to find him, she'd just have to look at the Gryffindor table, and Severus had told her James was almost always with the quidditch team. "You're going to sick if you eat all of that," she teased Scropius with a smile.

Scropius smiled brightly, "I bought enough for everyone. Father never let me have too many sweets, so I can't handle a lot." That was nice of Scropius, though it was a bit sad he was able to have a lot of sweets. Well, there were times that her father had stopped her from eating a lot of sweets, but that was because he didn't want her to get sick. She was sure it had to be the same for Scropius. She took a cauldron cake and some of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans. She liked the beans, and normally got only good flavors and only once in a while got one a little bad, but never a horrible flavor. Scropius took his shoes up and crossed his legs on the seat. "My father told me a Malfoy never gives anything away for free," he said grinning. Lily wasn't sure why he would say that, but she decided not to think too much into it. She popped in a bean and smiled. Strawberry.

"Thank you Scropius," Anavia said. "I'll repay you with kindness." Anavia had beat to her saying thank you, but that was okay. Anavia opened a chocolate frog and bit off it's head. "Oh look, I got a Harry Potter card." She held up the card showing Harry on it, waving frantically. She flipped it over and read the information on the back. _"Harry James Potter: Savior of the Wizarding world, at age 17 he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In school, he was the Gryffindor Seeker and was rivaled only by Draco Malfoy, Seeker for Slytherin." _She paused a moment. "Your dad's Draco? And Draconia is a white ferret?" Anavia started to giggle. "Didn't your dad tell you about him?

Lily felt she was missing something, as Scropius had laughed at that, but didn't respond. Was there something about Scropius' father and a white ferret she didn't know about? Well, she knew next to nothing about Scropius' parents, only what she knew about his father was what her father had told her about him during their school days. Before she got a chance to ask about it. "Scropius, what house would you like to get into?" Hugo asked. It was the first thing he had said since Rose had dropped him off there. Lily did like Hugo, but he was so quiet.

Scropius turned to Hugo and let out a small chuckle. "I'd love to be in Gryffindor."

"Oh! I want to be in Gryffindor too! It would be awesome if we both got into Gryffindor. My older brother James is in Gryffindor, and so is Hugo's sister." She wanted to be in the house with most of her family. Well, Ablu- Severus was in Slytherin, but that okay. It wasn't as though it actually mattered what house they were in all, she was sure they would be friends. Though, James had told her that being in Slytherin was a bad thing. It couldn't be though, as Severus wasn't a bad person and he was in Slytherin. Oh, right! "Thank you for sharing Scropius, and it's sad your father won't let you have a lot."

Hugo smiled. "I hope to get into Gryffindor too, but I'll probably be put into Hufflepuff. I'm a little too quiet, but you never know. If I end up in Gryffindor, I'd be around Rose a lot. I love being around her, but she's too protective. I swear she gives mom a run for her money, but I know she means well she just hasn't gotten over what happened last year." Last year. Lily wasn't told much about what happened last year, just that something horrible had happened to Rose and one of her friend had gotten killed at school. Rose seemed fine now, and she was sure her cousin was even out there selling her uncle's tick candy and all that stuff that she was aloud to sell. Rose did seem to take of her uncles a lot.

Scropius looked over at Lily and shrugged. "My father believed sweets would make me soft. Can't have a soft person in the family, now can we?" he shrugged. That was so stupid. Sweets didn't make a person soft. They were just something that was good to eat. "Nothing bad happens to people who are quiet. You're good just the way you are." Lily noticed now happy Scropius seemed to be, and she was happy too. See, she was already friends with Hugo and Avanis, and now she was positive that Scropius and her would be best friend.

After listening to Hugo she smiled again and leaned forward."I'm going to be in Hufflepuff. My father says he feels my mother and him out balanced each other. Since he was a Gryffindor and she was a Ravenclaw. So middle ground is Huffle. We could swap secrets if you wanted to; I know a lot about Herbology and History." She turned to Lily and tilted her head. "Maybe we could all get along together and show the world that being from a certain family group doesn't mean we can't get along." she paused and smiled. "And we can raise Nargal awareness." See, Avania was thinking the same thing! This was great!

Lily nodded in agreement to what Scorpius said. "That's right! You should be yourself! Besides, I like you being quiet, it'd be odd if you weren't," she said with a nod. She enjoyed Hugo the way he was, though it would be nice if he did talk a little bit more. She never understood why people wanted to force themselves to change for some reason. Her parents had always told her to be herself, and she liked to think that everyone followed the same ideals. She did like Avania's plan of them getting along and showing that what family you were from didn't matter. "I agree! We are all getting along now, so we should just continue to be friends!" she paused a moment, "and you'll need to explain to me more about Nargals."

As they started to get close to school, Rose came back into their cart. She looked around before laughing. "Did you get enough candy?" Lily smiled at Rose and nodded, before explaining that Scropius had bought them the candy. Lily's eyes didn't stay on Rose for more then a minuet, her eyes were soon looking out the window.

"Look! I can see the school!" she nearly screamed, jumping up. "Aren't you guys excited! This is going to be amazing!" They were so close! Soon they would get sorted, with hopefully both Scropius and her ending up in Gryffindor, and then they could start school! She was sure they would have all kinds of fun things happen to them, as didn't it always happen to people? From what she had heard about her father's time at school and what her brothers had told her, it was going to be just amazing! There was no chance it would be anything else.

"I'm excited too. You all should get your robes on," Rose said.

Oh! That's right, she needed to do that! Lily pulled her robes out of her bag and quickly started to get dressed, she watched as Hugo, Avania and Scropius started to do the same. As they got dressed, she heard Scropius mutter, "Oh goodie,. Daddy didn't pack my black tie." She saw him holding a green and silver tie. She was thankful that her parents had packed her bags for her so she didn't forget anything. She didn't understand why Scropius' parents didn't do the same. He finished getting dressed, without a tie on.

"I like your style, very devil may car," Avania told Scropius. She was dressed, including the Nargal charm that Lily could see she was wearing. Lily was able to get dressed quickly as well, without any problems.

Once everyone was dressed, and the train stopped, Lily smiled brightly. "Come on! Let's go!" She then started off the train with her friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

The Sorting Hat

Severus walked off the train with Alek. He was thankful that there were not a lot of people left getting on the carriages to be taken to Hogwarts. He never liked large crowds of people, or being around people who didn't like him. He supposed no one really wanted to be around people who didn't like them. Most of Gryffindor didn't like him, and he blamed James for that, and most of his own house disliked him because of his last name. Oh how he hated being a Potter. He didn't want to be compared to his parents. Didn't want people to look over at him and go, 'look, another Potter.' James seemed to throw their last name around like it was nothing, wanting to make himself popular or something. Severus did all he could to distance himself from his name. He kept his hair blond instead of brown, and went by his middle name instead of Albus. If people heard Albus, most people thought of Albus Potter. How many people in the school were named Albus? Severus however, less people thought right to Potter with that name, and so he had been using that name for a while. His family still called him Albus, if he wanted them to or not, but he still disliked it now.

"Look, there's one," Alek said, pointing to a carriage that hadn't left yet. Alek… Aleksander Monitque Donchev, the student from Bulgaria. Severus didn't know what he would do without the other boy. Alek was his best, and probably only, friend. Severus just nodded and followed Alek to and into the carriage. He did hope they would be lucky and not have to sit with anyone else, or at least not a Gryffindor or Slytherin student. He might be able to handle take it up there with a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, at least most of the people in those two houses didn't seem to care one way or another about him. He much rather have it that way.

Sadly, there were two seventh year Slytherins in the carriage. Severus was thankful that most of them just showed their dislike of him with words, or ignoring him completely. It was a rare occasion that anything for physical, at least not since his first year here. "Hellu, how are you Zambini and Farth?" Alek asked. It seemed Alek knew who they were. Severus hadn't until he heard the name, and only then did he recognize one of them. Dalin Zambini was the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. The only reason he even paid attention to quidditch was because of Alek. Severus went to every game Slytherin had, even though he knew Alek was going to win them all for Slytherin. Alek trained with Viktor Krum, and it made him a very good Seeker, the best at the school by far. "Let's try to ignore them, yah?"

Severus was more than happy to go along with that plan. He nodded to his friend to show he agreed. It wasn't as though he planned on saying anything anyway. He tended to feel uncomfortable around a lot of Slytherins, at least when they were in such closeness, and hated that most of them disliked him because of the Potter name. Just another way that name had continued to hurt him. He just wanted to get this ride over with.

Alek was soon looking out the window at the lake, and Severus was soon looking there as well. He saw the boats were the first years were, and wondered which one Lily was in. He hoped she had made some friends on the train. Severus had met Alek on it, and James had met most of his friends on the train as well. Of course, his first year on the train he had started with James. His brother had brought him to where the Gryffindor Quidditch team was hanging out. While James wasn't on the team yet, he only got on last year, he was still friends with all of them. Severus had been uncomfortable among all of the rowdy players, but he didn't think it would get any worse than him just sitting there as they all talked. He couldn't remember what had caused it, but he ended up in a fight with James that ended up his own shirt getting ripped up. He had made it away from them before too much damage could to be done, and had hide in one of the first compartments he found. It just happened that was the one Alek had been in.

"Severus, vill you please not talk? My head is hurting, and the same to both of you please," Alek said. Severus looked over at Alek. He wondered how long he had that headache, and if he had been bothering him on the train. He hoped not. It wasn't going to be nice to have a headache in the great hall when the sorting started. There was always so much yelling and cheering from each house when a student was placed in it. Maybe they would get lucky and the amount of first years would be short. Besides, the only first year he cared what house they ended up in was Lily. She'd probably end up in Gryffindor. It was where she wanted to go even, and Severus was sure James would love that.

The trip to the school was quiet, and Severus was thankful for that, even if it was because Alek had a headache. He had a feeling if he had said the same thing it would only make the other two boys talk more. Once their carriage got to Hogwarts, Severus got out as fast as he could. No reason staying there a minuet longer than he had too. He just waited there for Alek. Once Alek was out the two started walking to the Great Hall. "Do you need anything for your headache?" he asked.

Alek smiled and shook his head. "Do not vorry for me, my friend, I vill be fine as long as you are there." If that was all it took to make Alek be able to deal with his headache in this situation he knew would be loud, then he was more than happy to agree to do so. He followed his friend to the back of the Slytherin table, away from most of the meaner of their house who loved sitting towards the front. His green eyes went right to where the doors opened and the first years walked in. He looked for Lily, but not all that hard. He'd watch when it was her turn to be sorted. "You think ve vill get better ones this year?"

"I hope so, it's actually required to be a jerk to get into Slytherin." It just seemed that most of them were. He didn't even plan to pay much attention to who was placed where until it got to Lily. It didn't matter all that much, and he'd run into any first years he needed to talk with later. "What classes do we have together this year?" he took out his class list and turned to Alek as the sorting hat started it's song.

"Long, long ago four strangers met on a voyage from the face and mind, of heart and soul, they were different as can they, a common thread that would bind them to each 'd share their gifts with sorcerers; guide as sister and as brother."A wondrous thought," said Ravenclaw. "We will build a school to teach.""But where on earth," asked Hufflepuff, "is from Muggles, out of reach?"Twas Gryffindor who felled the land from the mountain to the Slytherin who found the gold used to build these very he, "Pureblood lines set the mark of the greatest whom shall enter."But Gryffindor was Muggle born; Thus was sewn the seed of strangers, all became best friends; merged talent in split the one school into four so that one might best the one was placed the diligent. One took the brightest took the brave at heart. The last sought pureblood one searched for the perfect path so to make their students , the greatest trait had sunk too low like a red sun in the inside was love and friendship, which bound them on ship at they held then power- bringing life, and soon, the seed had grown it seemed of enmity and stunning spells and curses too began flying through the , alone, without the other fought to stop the inner each, alone, had lost the trait, which would bring us peace once greatest fight the age has seen saw the closest of them all,turn wand on wand before the school. Twas then we began the fought his finest friend to prove that he was , both his heart and hapless soul were screaming for the dropped his wand and turned, but the serpent struck his thus was drawn the golden sword so to fend off the raised the blade high in the air and there its head did ignorance and enmity laid bare for all to friendship of the sword and snake was severed that dark day,until it is renewed again to save us from the battle rages on you see, and reaps a bitter you the challenge lies within to find the trait once lost.

If soon you don't find unity within this grand estate,the enemy will win unchecked, and doom you to his , now you know all that's been said. For I've warned you once too late I truly feared as I saw you breech the Students! Come and gird yourselves for the challenge deep within.I'll send you to the proper house. Let the sorting now begin!" The sorting hat sang.

Severus only faintly paid any attention to the hat's song. It changed every year and he didn't see much of a point to listening to it every year, since if figured it was close to the same anyway. "Ve have Majikal Ruins and Potions. But I haff Arithmacy." Well, two classes together wasn't bad. He would have preferred more, but he would take what he could get. He heard names being called, houses being called, followed by people cheering, but he only paid attention to his friend.

It wasn't until they were in the L's that Severus turned back up to the first years. That was Avania, right? Yeah, Avania Lonbottom. Her parents were family friends, but Lily had always been closer to the girl than he was. It seemed like she would end up in Hufflepuff. Well, good for her. It looked like Alek was looking up there too. "Is that Professor Lonbottom's child? I heard she vas coming..." After Alek asked, he turned back to face Severus with a smile, still holding onto both of their class lists.

"Yeah, that's here. Her parents are family friends." It seemed like his parents had a lot of family friends. That was fine, though he didn't like feeling his parents wanted him to be friends with their friend's children. It was a pain. While he did get a long with almost all of them, he wouldn't call them friends. They were at the L's though, so it wouldn't be that much longer until Lily was up there.

Severus turned when the name "Malfoy, Scropius," was called. "There, ve vill have another stuck up Slytherin," Alek said. That was probably true. Severus wasn't sure he wanted to deal with that. He had heard how his father had interacted with Draco Malfoy and he didn't want to have that kind of relationship with anyone. It was something James probably wouldn't mind though. He looked over at James, finding him rather quickly, and he was with his quidditch friends. Only after he watched him a moment and turned back to Alek did he realize how long it was taking for the hat to just call Slytherin and get over with it.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled. Gryffindor? Well, it wasn't as though names meant everything. No one thought he would end up in Slytherin. Well, he had been worried about it and James had teased him about it his first year.

Everyone was silent. It was shocking, he guessed, to see a Malfoy placed in Gryffindor. Though, he remembered there was a similar reaction when he had been placed in Slytherin, and he remembered there was the same reaction when he had been placed into Slytherin. He still remembered the look of disgust on James' face. Though, his eyes were soon on Alek, who had stood up and clapped. Severus looked and saw the whole table looking at them, and he wanted to sink away from all of the eyes. He didn't like standing out. He didn't like so many people starting at him. What was wrong with Alek? His friend sat back down and nudged him. "Vat an amazing thing... Maybe Griyffindor vill finally get a better seeker..."

Severus had no doubt in his mind that Gryffindor's seeker wouldn't be changing until James' graduated. James was the second best seeker at the school, even he had to admit that. He did laugh though, "even if that kid is better than James, I'm not sure that would be enough to get James off of the team or even have him not be seeker." No, James' friends would make sure he'd stay on the team. There was also the fact that James' ego would be ruined if he was off of the team. Severus knew he was one of the outlets for James' anger, and he didn't want to be there if James ever had anger from getting off the team.

His eyes were soon back to the first years, as it looked like it was finally Lily's turn to be sorted. The hat didn't even seem to need to touch her head before yelling out Gryffindor. He was happy for her. As much as he would have liked it, he knew there was no chance of her ending up in Slytherin. Besides, she'd be happier in Gryffindor than in Slytherin. He was happy with her, and his relationship with her wouldn't change because of what house she was in. He wasn't James. Speaking of James, Severus could see that smug look on James' face, as though he had just won something. James' should be happy that Lily is where she would be happy, not that she was… Severus was sure James felt Lily was better than him now. After all, she was in Gryffindor and all of the good person ended up in Gryffindor. That was how James' thought.

The last name he paid attention to was Hugo, who was put into Hufflepuff. Severus didn't care all that much about him though or what house he got into. As much as he loved his cousins, and he did write much of his family every other week or so, he sometimes felt they were just in the same category of his parents' friends' children, and he was expected to be friends with all of them, even if they didn't want that. Hugo wasn't in Slytherin, so he wouldn't have to worry about it. He had cousins in Slytherin, but he never spoke to them unless he had to. They were both stuck up, and he couldn't stand being around them.

The hall slowly grew loud again until Headmistress McGonagall stood up and raised her hands to calm the room down."Welcome back, to another year of school." She paused as most of the students erupted in cheers and applause. "For some of you, this is your last year with us and others you have just walked through our hallowed halls for the first time. Welcome, welcome, welcome." She smiled over them and then turned to face the elderly man who had taken the stool and sorting hat down once again. Now I am sorry to say that there will be no Quidditch this year." The hall erupted in cries of pain, mostly coming from the Gryffindor table."But something else has graced our hallow halls this year, though it was highly fought against." She shot a look to the staff table and then quickly returned to her speech. "Our school will once again play host to the TriWizard Tournament!" Wild roars and cheers once again rang through the halls as students and teachers alike stood in celebration. "Like years before, there will be students visiting from other Wizarding Schools. This year, the lovely students of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute will once again be gracing us with their presence. Three Selected Champions compete in three tasks designed to test magical ability, intelligence and courage. Champions compete for the honor and glory of winning the Tournament, and the prize for the victor is the Triwizard Cup and a monetary prize. However, the Tournament is extremely dangerous, and Champions have died while competing." The hall fell silent as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and moved her eyes over the hall."But let us not dwell on the misfortunes of the past, let us enjoy what we have here and Cena!"As soon as the word 'Cena' left her mouth, the empty plates and goblets filled with food and drink.

Severus was suddenly thankful that James was only a year younger than him. He knew his brother would jump at the chance to be a part of this. James was too headstrong, too arrogant, too everything that would get him killed if he were in be a part of the tournament. As much as he could hate his older brother, he would never wish him dead. Ever.

He was pulled from his thoughts as Alek grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him. "Did you hear that? DID YOU HEAR THAT? Българите! О сладките звучат от страната на майка! Богът е добър!" Severus wondered if Alek had realized he had started talking in Bulgarian again. He knew it happened often, that Alek would slip back into Bulgarian and not seem to remember that he didn't speak a word from it. He could figure Alek was excited because he lived closer to Durmstang than Hogwarts, and he assumed Alek had friends going to Durmstang that would be showing up here. "I vunder if Anastas vill be here, for sure his brother Nikola vill compete... Oh I vould loff to see them again..." See, Alek had to be talking about his friends. Severus had to say, he felt a little jealous of that. When they showed up, he was sure Alek would want to hang out with him a lot, and that wouldn't leave much time for him. He knew it was a selfish thought, and he'd never say it out loud, but he couldn't help but feel that way. Though, now that he thought about it, Alek was acting much more, he wanted to say hyper. He had thought it was just because the other was excited to get to the school or something, but maybe he was sick? He had said he had a headache, and then he stood up and clapped like that, not normal, but he guessed Alek was just excited now. Alek ate some before he said anything else. As if reading his mind he said, "Sorry, I haff been off. I had a fight vith my mother before coming."

He knew what the fight was about without even having to ask. Alek's mother wanted him to go to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, and the two fought over it a lot it seemed. If Alek wanted to talk about the fight, Severus would listen, but he wouldn't ask any questions about it. Alek would talk about it if he wanted to. "I hope you do get to see your friends." He even managed a smile. "Then when you talk in your native language, people will understand you." Severus knew that Alek was self-conscious about his accent, but Severus didn't think it was that big deal. He hardly noticed it most of the time, only with Alek actually started speaking Bulgarian. He didn't even turn when it was announced for everyone to go back to their common rooms and for the first years to follow the Perfects.

Severus got up when Alek did. Alek smiled and shrugged, "It vill be vonderful to see them, but the are not my "friends" per say, they are competition. Nicola trains with Krum as vell, so ve have practice vith each other." He started to follow the rest of the table as they headed to the dungeons. "You are the only person I consider a friend." He muttered, "Приятел."

Severus was quiet a moment. He had always thought Alek had other friends. Alek was popular. Alek had to say it made him happy to hear that, even if he didn't know what the Bulgarian was. "You're my only friend too," he said softly, but he was sure Alek heard it. It almost seemed pathetic that the two of them only had each other, but at least he didn't have to worry about losing Alek to anyone. He wasn't sure what he would do without the other…

Alek smiled and wrapped an arm around him. "Vell, ve can be lonely together. No need for others, yeah?" he said with a laugh. The two of them soon made their way into Slytherin. Severus made sure to remember the pass word. _Lacuna Lata_ ""Velcome home!" Severus smiled. Home. Yeah, that was right. He was home.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

How to Lose 200 House Points in Just One Day

Severus yawned as he pulled himself out of bed the next morning. It was the first day of classes, and he already knew most of his classes wouldn't be all that fun. If he actually had more classes with Alek he was sure it would be better. It wasn't as though he disliked any of his classes or anything, he just didn't like having classes where he knew most of the other students didn't like him. As long as he didn't have any Gryffindors in his classes it wouldn't be so bad. Most of the time the Slytherins who disliked him just ignored him, while the Gryffindors liked to try and cause a scene of some kind.

Today was a day he should be happy about, and he was happy about, though. His eyes went over to Alek's empty bed. He knew his friend always went out and ran in the early mornings, and was normally back, showered, and ready to start his day by the time Severus even got up. Today was Alek's birthday; he was turning fourteen. If it had been anyone other than Alek, Severus would have gotten him a gift or something, but he knew Alek never cared about celebrating his birthday. He'd just have to wish his friend a happy birthday and leave it at that. Lily's birthday was this month too, and he'd have to try and get her a gift at some point.

Severus was soon getting dressed, yawning again. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. It was just always something that happened the first few days of being back at Hogwarts. It was a carry over from being at home, where he normally didn't sleep much in a given night. Back home, he shared a room with James and he hated it. It had been fine before they were both in school. James would tease him, but they got along well enough. Severus would have loved if they still had that kind of relationship. They fought a lot now, or at least they had over the summer. Over the summer wasn't that bad, as James couldn't beat him in a fist fight, though they both knew James was much better at magic than he was, and they weren't supposed to use magic outside of school. James did make it a habit to make sure he never got much sleep at night when they were back home. Severus knew he'd get used to not having to worry about something happen to him while he was sleeping and start getting good nights rests soon enough.

His first class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, with all Slytherins. He knew the teacher was impressed with James, as James was the best at this class in his grade maybe even more than that, and that didn't help him any. Severus didn't want to be compared to his brother or anyone from his family, and it was hard to get away from that in this class because of the teacher. He hated listening to his classmates snicker and make remarks that they thought he couldn't here, or maybe they wanted him to hear them either way he wished they would just be quiet.

The worst part about having this class first thing in the morning was he knew James had the class right after him. He had heard James talking about how excited he was for this class and when he had it. Severus knew he couldn't stay here any longer than need be or he'd run into James coming into the class. The more he avoided his brother the best off he was in his mind. He faintly wondered if they would have had a better relationship if he had ended up in Gryffindor, but then he would have never met Alek.

Soon enough, Severus was walking into Ancient Ruins. Alek was already there, sitting down. Severus made his way over and sat down next to him. "Happy Birthday Alek."

"Mm, right."

Severus wondered if Alek had even remembered it was his birthday or not, and, given his response, Severus was guessing he hadn't. That was fine. He had already assumed, and known really, that Alek wouldn't want to celebrate or anything. Normally, when his own birthday rolled around, he couldn't forget it or try to ignore it. He'd always get gifts and what not from his family. It wasn't as if he didn't like celebrating his birthday, he just didn't like all of the attention from his family he got during his birthday. As he thought about it, he didn't like any time there was a lot of attention given to him by his family.

His eyes were soon drawn away from Alek to look over as Scropius walked into the classroom. There was a first year Gryffindor in a class of all third year Slytherins? That did not make any sense to him. Maybe he was lost or something. Watching him a moment, Severus soon changed his mind. It seemed Scropius knew what class he was in and was, apparently, in the right class. He listened to some of the other Slytherins made remarks to each other about Scropius, but Severus didn't care. He could still remember many of remarks some of the same people had made about him his first year. He lived through it, he was sure Scropius could too.

It seemed that Scropius had gotten a lot of howlers that morning at breakfast. Severus was actually glad he had missed that. He never liked listening to those, and he was thankful he had never gotten one himself. The only reason he hadn't gone to eat breakfast that morning and ended up missing those howlers was because he had been waiting to go and eat with Alek, but he guessed he had just missed him and had to run off to class. That was fine for him though, missing a meal here or there wasn't going to kill him.

Severus talked about mostly meaningless things with Alek before the class started. By talking with Alek, he meant that he was doing most of the talking and Alek only would show he was listening. He was more than fine with doing almost all of the talking when talking with his friend. He never talked a lot with other people, so it was nice to be able to have someone where he felt comfortable talking with. That was one thing he felt bad about when looking at Scropius. It didn't look like he had any friends in this class, and that would make it hard. Severus had lived though that too, and was actually would have most of his classes like that his year, so he knew it was more than possible to do.

When the class ended, Severus watched Scropius and Alek walk off together, he guessed their next class was in the same direction or something. Severus just shook his head and went off to his next class.

Later that day, Severus left charms and headed to his last class of the day, potions. Most of his classes had went along fine enough, but he was thankful to be getting to his other class with Alek. Potions was also his favorite class. Not only was he good at it, but it was one of the few things he was a lot better than James at. His brother was horrible at potions and Severus often wondered how he managed to pass it every year. Maybe James just got lucky at it, or maybe he had that girlfriend of his help. Severus was well aware of the fact that James' girlfriend was good at potions, good enough to have no issues making love potions to give to James every few months to keep him interested in her. If he thought James wasn't actually happy with the way things were, he might be willing to help his brother with this. It didn't seem to be hurting him any, and he figured Melinda actually liked him. She was the president of the James Potter Fan Club. Yes, it was real, and had enough members to make him sick, but that had to mean she cared enough about him for Severus not want to do anything about the love potion. It didn't matter, he just wanted to get to potions class and have one class he actually enjoyed and-

Severus tensed as he felt two people grab him from behind, one holding tightly onto each arm. He panicked as he tried to pull himself away from the two unknown people holding him. "Let me go!" he yelled.

"Sorry Albus, but that's not going to happen," James said, cracking his knuckles as he walked over to him along with David Miller. David was the seventh year captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. He was a tall male, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. David was one of James' best friends, and was someone who Severus couldn't stand. David's attitude was much worse than James' ever would be. He could see Melinda not too far away from them, looking like she was keeping look out or something. "Keep him still Hector, Asher." It had been because he had been afraid that was who it was that he hadn't looked at who had grabbed him. Both Hector and Asher were on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as well. Hector was a fourth year, with blond hair and bright green eyes. He was better than David, but still a bit of a jerk, though all of James' friends were. Asher was a red head who was in his fifth year. "Holly, Melinda, make sure you let me know if someone's coming." Oh, Holly was there too. Holly was also on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, though most of James' friends were it seemed, and was dating Asher, and a fifth year as well. The only reason he knew all of this was because he had to listen to James ramble on about this kind of thing over the summer. So, the two girls were acting as lookouts, huh? Great.

"James don't-" Severus was cut off when he felt James' first punch into his gut. James always had to jump him like this if he wanted to win a fist fight like this. He would have tried to reason with his brother again, had he not lost his breath after that punch. He tried to catch his breath, but he felt another punch this one was much harder than the last one. David was helping James beat him up it seemed. Severus tried to pull himself away from the two boys holding him, but David and James kept punching and kicking him. Most of the injuries were to his torso or legs, thankfully places that could be covered up until he was able to fix this. Then, David punched him in the face and ended that. A black eye. He barely noticed that James had stopped and was waiting for David to do the same.

"Hey, what do you boys think you're doing?" Severus heard an older male's voice yell as he ran over to him. The Asher and Hector let Severus go, and looked at the much older male.

"Pro-Professor Maxwell, we… well, you see," Asher started. Severus moved against the wall, panting. Professor Maxwell? That was the new potion teacher. It made sense that he'd be one to find them, as they were rather close to the potion classroom.

"What I see is four Gryffindor boys beating up a Slytherin. You should all be ashamed of yourselves-" Professor Maxwell paused a moment. "You're Albus Potter, correct?" Severus hated that he had said Albus, but he nodded in response. "And, let me see, James Potter, Asher Tucker, David Miller, and Hector Cox." He shook his head. "Fifty points from Gryffindor, for each of you, and detention for each of you that you will all sever separately."

"That's two hundred points! That's almost all of our points! That's outrageous!" James screamed. "You can't just take all of our points on the first day!"

"James, stop it. Fine," David said, frowning. "We'll just get them back later." James scoffed, and was quiet.

"Now, get to class. I'll make sure you all hear about when your detentions are," Professor Maxwell said. Once the four boys ran off, Professor Maxwell turned to Severus. "Do you need me to walk you to the infirmary?"

Severus shook his head. "I'll be fine." He hated going to the infirmary, and had only gone there once. The moment he walked in there before, the commit had been made that another Potter was getting himself hurt, and Severus never wanted to be 'Another Potter.' Once Professor Maxwell nodded and ran off to his potions class that should have already started.

Limping slightly, Severus started to make his way back to Slytherin. It wasn't as though this was the first time this had happened. This was actually rather tame compared to some of the other times. Well, tame to compared to one or two of the other times. James had busted his lip open once, and there had been a few times that Sever had been afraid that James was going to break a bone.

Why did James have to do this today? He had hoped to at least spent the classes he had with Alek with Alek today, since it was his friend's birthday. It was only faintly on his mind though, as want he wanted was to get back to his bed and rest for a little while. He knew how to take care of the wounds he had gotten, and as soon as he got some rest he would do it.

Getting back to the Slytherin Common Room, he was thankful that no one seemed to be there. Almost everyone should be in class at least. He wanted to take care of his wounds before everyone got back and could see him hurt. He quickly, or at least as quickly as he could, made his way to his bed and closed the curtains. He then laid down on the bed and tried to relax.

After only a few minuets, he watched as the curtains were pulled back and Alek was standing there. "Hallu."

Severus wished Alek hadn't shown up, but he felt better that his friend was here at the same time. He knew Alek would have had to skipped potions to be here, and he did feel bad about that as well. Though, he didn't want his friend to see him like this. If he had just gotten a little more rest he would have used magic to fix the bruises, though that was about all he could do right now, and this could have just blown over. "Shouldn't you be in potions?" he asked. "And don't worry about me, I'll take care of everything once I've rested some." Severus pulled himself into a sitting potion.

Alek raised an eyebrow, and gave him a serious look. "Me, not vorry? You are joking with me." Alek sat down next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Vu did this? Vas it James and his group of задник Quidditch players?"

Of course Alek was going to worry. If the situation was reversed, though he didn't see Alek losing any fights any time soon, Severus knew he would be worried about Alek. He knew that Alek already knew the answer to his question. He had too. There was only one group of people that ever did anything like this, or at least to this extreme. "It was James and his friends, I think all of them were on the Quidditch team. They were at least the people who always hang out with him."

Alek nodded and got up. Severus was party worried that Alek was going to go off right then and do something to James and his friends. It wasn't that he didn't want something to happen to James because of this, he just- He wanted Alek here now that he was actually here and not in class. "Should I go get food from the kitchens and ve can eat here?" Severus wanted to tell him that he wasn't hungry, but Alek didn't wait for a response and was gone right away.

Severus grabbed his wand and quickly took care of his bruises. No need to have Alek still see them when he got back. He'd probably just make tonight an early night and not bother leaving where he was again tonight. He wondered for a moment just how many points Gryffindor had left, but decided that it didn't matter. He had to work on some homework and he knew that he would need to make up his potions work from today. That was fine.

When Alek got back, with a pile of food with him, he threw himself on the bed and separated the food between them. Severus just picked it at, and didn't bother saying anything. What was he supposed to say then? Alek was being quiet too. Still, Severus was glad he wasn't alone at the moment. Alek finished before him and stood up and stretched. "I am tired, vill you excuse me?" Severus watched him leave without a word.

Severus set the rest of his food on the floor, not planning on eating the rest of it, and grabbed one of his text books. Maybe he should try and get some stuff done, since it looked like there wasn't going to be anything else to do before he went to sleep.

Though, as many times he had run ins with James had ended badly, Severus found himself thinking again about Gryffindor and Slytherin. It didn't make much sense to him why the houses hated each other so greatly. While he was glad he was in Slytherin, as he wouldn't be such good friends with Alek if he wasn't, he was sure of that, part of him wondered why he hadn't be put into Gryffindor. Well, he wasn't like James that was for sure. He wasn't as brave or headstrong as James. Brave… Severus wouldn't call himself a coward by any means, but James' bravery was just crazy. He was never afraid of getting hurt or thought about all the things that could go wrong. James was also much more… self-sacrificing than he was. There was no doubt in his mind that James would rush into a dangerous situation and put himself on the line for anyone he cared about or even just people he thought needed him. Severus on the other hand knew there were only two people he would go that far for. One was his younger sister Lily and the other was his best friend Alek. They were the only people he'd put himself in danger for. As every time he tended to think on this, he same to the conclusion that he always did. James seemed to be the perfect Gryffindor while he was…

Severus shook his head and went back to his homework.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Quidditch Tryouts, Love Potions, and Detention

It was almost a joke that they would still have quidditch tryouts when there would be no quidditch played this year. James started to make his way to the field none the less. It was not as though he was worried about losing his spot on the team, because he was the best seeker in Gryffindor by far. It didn't matter that he was friends with the Captain or anything, as David always made sure that the best person got the spot, friends or not. It was something James admired about the seventh year. He wasn't sure if he could put personal feelings completely aside if he were captain. Than again, he would be captain next year, assuming he was still on the team, so he would have to try and make sure to do that next year. Next year. Why were they holding tryouts now if they would have to have tryouts again before they had their first game? The whole idea was so stupid, but it was what was needed to be done he guessed. James figured it was so they would all be ready by next year and were used to playing as a team.

As James walked out to the fields, he saw Albus walking to the library and made sure not to have his brother see him. Earlier this week he had basically jumped his brother. David was upset when he found about he wouldn't be able to play quidditch his last year at school and James had wanted to help him feel better about that. As always, he offered beating someone up, and he was already in a bit of a bad mood because of his run in with Albus' friend on the train, so he figured his brother would be the perfect person to beat up. David had taken it a bit further than James had wanted, and it bothered him. If they hadn't been caught, James would have stopped the fight so Albus wouldn't get serious hurt.

During Albus' first year James and his friends had decided to do the same thing, beat Albus up. They had drug Albus into a bathroom and started to beat him up. By the time one of James' friends made the fight stop, Albus' lip was busted open, James had broken Albus' nose, and James knew how close they had come to breaking Albus' arm. James wasn't stupid, he knew that in situations like that he ended up getting caught up in the moment and couldn't always stop himself. He had this most recent time, but that was rare. It was after this time, when he had almost broken Albus' arm, that James only fought his brother where he knew he would get caught. James rather get caught, rather lose those fifty points, than ever hurt his brother like that again.

Speaking of losing all of those house points. It turned out that all of the other houses' points were almost two hundred and Gryffindor's was only around thirty at the moment. Thirty points! It wasn't widely known it was James and his friends that had lost all of those points, and those that did know it was them didn't know why. Of course, it was only a matter of time because they found out what had happened. James would just need to let things blow over and everything would be fine. He was sure of it. It just wouldn't be fun until it did blow over.

James made it to the fields, and smiled. "Well, how many new people do we have trying out today?" he asked with a smile.

Asher laughed, "it doesn't look like too many people are trying out. I don't think there has even been anyone here saying they want to try and take seeker from your James."

"As if anyone could take seeker from him," Holly added with a smile. "We all know that you're the only one here that stands a chance at beating that stupid Slytherin seeker."

"Yeah, but it's still not a big chance," Lloyd pointed out. Lloyd was a fifth year, and was currently one of their chasers. He had blond hair that was short but thick, and he liked to spike it up with gel most days. "Though, if anyone is going to do it, it'll be James. I don't see Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff getting anyone good enough to beat James, let along Aleksander."

"Aleksander? Is that that kid's names?" Holly asked. "Well, doesn't matter all that much. I could care less what his name it."

"David, how soon are we starting anyway?" James asked, turning to his best friend and their captain.

"In ten minuets. You all got here early," David pointed out.

"But, you're the one who yells at us if we're late," Hector pointed out.

"It'll probably be a short try out though, it doesn't look like there are many people here besides us," Holly said.

"James, it's that first year who talked with you the first day here," Melinda said, motioning over to Scorpius who was walking into the field.

James rolled his eyes. "That's nice. He'll have to be one of the best to get one the team as a first year. I didn't even make it on the team until my second here."

James watched as Scorpius walked over to them, and listened as everyone shut up as he got over to them, "Hello. I'm here for tryouts," Scorpius said with a smile. James thought it was funny that this first year was tall enough to be taller than several people here, Hector, Holly, Lloyd, but David was still a bit taller than Scorpius. David talked with Scorpius, and it seemed like he was trying out for the position of keeper. That was fine with him.

James looked over at the other people who where there, and he noticed his cousin Rose. He would be fine if she made the team. While not the best of friends with her, James liked to think he was close with most of his family. Now, James would love it if all of his friends would stay on the team, he knew it might not happen. He would still be friends with everyone, on the quidditch team with him or not. Besides, it wasn't as though there would be quidditch matches anyway.

It was always something odd to James how quickly David could figure out who made the team and who didn't. He knew right away and had who was going to be on the team and who wasn't as soon as tryouts were done. Of course James had made the team, there hadn't even been anyone else trying out for seeker, and most of the team had made it back on the team, there were only two changes. Rose had replaced Melinda, and James was no longer happy about Rose being on the team, and David had not only not put himself on the team, as he wouldn't be on the team next year, but had put Scorpius as the keeper! A first year had made it on the team! This hadn't happened since… since… since his father had done it. It made James just want to scream, but there wasn't much for him to do about it right now.

As James started walking off the field with his friends, he 'accidentally' bumped into the first year hard enough to knock him off balance. Once all of his friends were off the field, as it seemed Rose and Scorpius wanted to do a bit more flying before they went back inside, something that James thought was childish, James sighed. "Great, we have some kid on the team now. Thanks a lot David."

" He's a good keeper, and you can't even fight me on that James," David pointed out. "Besides, I don't have time to fight with you right now. I have to go to do that detention with Mr. Maxwell. You have it tomorrow, right James? Everyone else has had it already."

James sighed, "yeah. It sucks I got suck with a Saturday detention." A detention and losing all of those points, it seemed over kill to James, but there was nothing he could do about it by this point.

"It's not so bad. He just makes you clean some stuff mostly," Asher pointed out.

David shrugged, "I don't care all that much what I have to do. It's not as though this is the first time I've had detention and I'm not sure it'll be the last." With that, David left.

James turned to Melinda, "we'll have to figure out another time to hang out, since we won't have quidditch together any longer," he said. "Are you upset you didn't make the team? We can go and do something fun to cheer you up if you want."

Melinda sighed, "I don't mind that I didn't make the team. Your cousin is a good beater, better than me. Besides, I don't think David likes me, no I think he hates me. He thinks I'm doing something to you, and he threw a fit over it the other day."

James gave her a look of confusion. "What do you mean, doing something to me? What does he think you're doing to me?"

Melinda shook her head and smiled, before kissing James. "Let's just get back and do some homework, huh? I need to make sure you understand that homework we got in charms class."

James frowned as he started to walk back to the Gryffindor common room after lunch, knowing he would have to go to detention soon. A Saturday detention was just horrible. His friends had already done theirs earlier in the week. He was probably going to have to do the same thing they had to do, clean everything without the use of any magic. That was fine with him. He was used to cleaning things without magic, as he had to do that more often than not while at home.

"James." It was Albus. "I," he paused, hesitated. James noticed his younger brother, who had cut him off just before the painting that would lead into James' destination. James wondered if his brother had been waiting here for him. He noticed how Albus wasn't looking in his eyes, was moving his hands a lot, and was even biting the edges of his lips. "I need you help."

James didn't say anything for a few moments. Albus wanted his help? Albus NEVER asked for his help. James didn't understand how Albus could stand to be around him right now, after what had happened on Monday. This must be serious for Albus to go as far as this for whatever he needed help with. James decided right then that he was going to do whatever Albus wanted him to do. "Yeah? And what do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

Albus seemed to fidget some, still not making eye contact. "I need a Bezoar. Someone gave my friend a love potion and that's the only way to cure it. He can't stay under the spell. I know Mr. Maxwell has them, so… you have detention with him tonight, right? I know you used to pull a lot of pranks and it wouldn't be the first time you stole something form a teacher. Please?"

Albus was more desperate than James had thought. He was clearly willing to beg him for help with his. James knew what friend his brother was talking about, and understood. Albus only had only friend really, and part of James wanted to be there for his brother, even if he was a filthy Slytherin, but it just would never happen. James would never be a friend for Albus. It was fine though, James could still be a good brother for Albus. "Fine, but I want you to do two months of potions homework for me." He would still do it for his brother, even if he refused this, but he knew his brother wouldn't refuse.

"That's fine. Just get the bezoar for me." Albus looked pathetic right then. James was sure he could have asked anything of his brother and he would have done it. James didn't like someone having so much control over his brother without even trying. That was what happened when you only had one friend he guessed. James was tempted to push this idea by trying to make Albus do something else, see how far he'd be willing to go for his friend, but he wouldn't. James had caused his brother enough pain.

"Don't worry, I'll get it for you. I'll meet you to give it to you tomorrow morning," James said. He'd have to get his friends to help him. If he could cause a distraction and keep Mr. Maxwell's attention on him, while two of his friends went and got the bezoar for him. If he told them he wanted it for something, or even just to prove they could get it, then James' friends would help him. He was sure of it.

"You want me to do what now?" David asked, giving James an odd look when they were in the Gryffindor common room.

"Why are you surprised David?" Asher asked. "This is normal for James, though normally he does more pranks than stealing things from teachers trying not to be noticed."

David opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and thought a few moments before saying anything. "Do you want this bezoar for yourself?"

"Huh? Yeah, why?" James asked. He didn't know what he could need one himself for. His mind went back to yesterday when Melinda had told him that David thought she was doing something to him. That had to be why David thought he wanted this thing, right?

"Alright, we'll help you. You just cause a distraction and we'll get into Maxwell's office and get that bezoar for you," David said.

"Wait, we will? What if we get caught? I don't want another detention with Professor Maxwell," Asher said, shaking his head. "But, it has been a while since we've done anything close to this, so I guess I'm in. Just don't tell Holly, she's still pissed about how many points we lost the other day. She'll get over it though." He laughed.

"How soon are you going to detention?" David asked.

"In a few minuets. I'll try and distract him right away. I think the sooner we do this the better," James said.

"I agree, it would be for the best to do it right away," Asher said. "Try and not do something stupid to get Professor Maxwell's attention."

James laughed. "Me? Do something stupid? Come on, who do you think I am?"

"Good point. Don't do something too stupid James," Asher said, grinning. "I'm not sure we'll be able to bail you."

"Oh, if I get in trouble everything will blow over. It always does," James pointed out, grinning back.

"I'm sure he'll be able to handle whatever trouble he gets into," David said, shaking his head. "Now, you need to get going so we can do it."

James nodded and left the Gryffindor common room. Well, time for detention…

As James made his way to detention, he stopped to look at the house points. Gryffindor had 47, Ravenclaw had 340, Hufflepuff had 204, and Slytherin had 316. It always frustrated him when he walked past it. It was so stupid and unfair that Professor Maxwell had taken fifty points from each of them. He had gotten points taken away before, even for beating up Albus, but never that many points so quickly.

James walked into the potions room. "I'm here for detention," he called. He sat down where Professor Maxwell told him to sit. Looking over at the near by caldrons, he figured that was what he was going to have to clean.

"We're waiting for one more person who will have detention with you tonight," Professor Maxwell said. The look he was giving James made him feel a bit uncomfortable. It was glare, but something darker about it as well. James stopped looking at him after a moment because of that. Who knew teachers got this upset just because he beat someone up? He wondered who the other person in the detention with him was, and how that would factor into his plan to distract Professor Maxwell long enough for his friends to grab that stupid this for Albus.

There was soon a knock on the door to the room, and James turned to see who was coming in. He didn't have to wait for the door to open to know tough. "Come in Mr. Malfoy," Professor Maxwell said. Malfoy? Oh, it must be Scorpius. Great. Out of all the people he could have been stuck in detention with it had to be Scorpius.

As he walked Scorpius walk in and take a seat, he got an idea. Scorpius was good at potions right? The kid was in in potions with third years, actually if he heard right Scorpius was in classes with mostly third years, so making a distraction should be easy for the kid, right? Well, if Scorpius wouldn't help him a distraction then he would just start a fight with the first year and that would cause a distraction in and of itself. Professor Maxwell told them they would be cleaning things, and left the room, going into his office.

"Hey kid, from what I hear you're good at potions. I need you to make a distraction. Make a big mess and a loud sound. If you don't I'm going to try and do something, and trust me you don't want that," James said. James was horrible at potions. He had even been hurting himself a few times in class now. If not for Melinda he wasn't sure he'd even be passing the class. "And the sooner you do it the better." He grabbed a rag and started to clean one of the caldrons.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow, before pulling out his want. "One, my name isn't kid, it's Scorpius and two, I am good at potions but if you haven't noticed there isn't really anything for me to work with. The best I could do is animate that gunk." He motioned to the mess of leftover ingredients in James' cauldron. That was fine. Anything the kid could do would be fine. As long as it caused a distraction that would be good. "Animato," Scorpius said as he waved his wand over the cauldron. James watched as the gunk that was left in the cauldron seemed to come to life in the form of some kind of animal, though James couldn't tell what kind it was. It made a large roar and ran into Professor Maxwell's office. "There, that should do it." Scorpius flicked his wand once more and James heard an explosion in the professor's office. "Good enough for you?" Scorpius asked. He soon was working on cleaning.

James smirked. Perfect, that had worked better than he had thought it would. He turned to Scorpius, "Don't say a word when he gets out here, let me handle it." When Mr. Maxwell stormed out of his office, James could faintly see his two friends sneak into it. They had already been hiding out before, just waiting for the time they could get into the office and grab what was needed. He was thankful that he had been able to get to the point quickly, as he didn't want his friends to have to wait a long time. The longer they waited the higher chance they could get caught. He did plan on saying it was Scorpius who had done it, but not right away, and only if he had too. James winced as something in the cauldron clung to his skin and start to have a horrible burning feeling. He bit his lip, though part of him wished this had happened soon as it could have been a good distraction if he played if up more. He did wonder why they were given cauldrons to clean that had stuff in it that would burn them and cause them injury like this. Well, because the teacher had it out for him. James was sure about that, since the man had made him lose almost all of his house points so far. Still, he thought this on top of everything else was over kill."What one of you do did that?" Mr. Maxwell screamed at looked over at him, "did what? We've just been here cleaning," he said simply."Don't play dumb with me Mr. Potter. When I find out who did this I'm going to hang you on the stalks, Mr. Flinch knows where they are!" He yelled. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, for each of you!"James needed to buy more time, keep the teacher yelling at them until he saw his friends leave the office. "Twenty points? Each? What, are you trying to bring us down to zero over something we had no part of? Damn potions teacher." Albus owed him more than just two months worth of potions homework for this. A lot more. James knew the trouble he was going to get into for swearing at the teacher., along with screaming at him. "That's it, ten more points from... oh right, you don't have that many points left, seven more points from Gryffindor. You both will have weeks worth of detention, and I'm sending a letter to your parents," Mr. Maxwell yelled at them. James looked over at the office a moment to see his friends leave. Took them long enough. "Now, get back to scrubbing! You'll both be doing a lot of it, and will be cleaning my office!" With that Mr. Maxwell went and sat down at his desk in the room, planning on keeping a closer eye on them.

James went back to scrubbing once Mr. Maxwell had stopped screaming. He could almost feel the glare that Scorpius was giving him. He was sure the kid hated him right now, but that didn't matter much to him. He had gotten that thing for Albus, even if he was going up how much it would cost him now. Besides, Scorpius would get over it. People always got over things. Well, Albus' friend would not just get over a love potion. It was a pain, but it was worth it to help his brother. He didn't even mind he would get a letter from him, as he honestly doubted his father knew how to even send a howler. He wondered if Scorpius would get one, as James had been there to hear all of the howlers the kid got from his family when he ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. He did feel a bit bad about that, but not everyone could win.

The rest of the detention went by in silence. By the end of it, most of James' arms were burned. He sucked it up though. No use complaining, no matter how much it hurt. Besides, they were at most second degree burns. Once he was done with this, he'd get the bezoar from David and give it to Albus before going to the infirmary to get these burns taken care of. That was the order things had to be done.

"Here, it's that bezoar you needed," James said, handing it to Albus. James pretended not to notice his brother looking at the burns running up and down his arms. "You'll be able to help that friend of yours now." Albus opened his mouth to say something, but James wouldn't risk his brother saying something about the burns. He didn't want his brother's worry, what he could see in the other's face. "Look, it was bit more work to get that thing than I had thought it would be. I got a week's worth of detention, what you are going to do for me. Understand? It starts tomorrow, so you better be there and make sure you stag some poly juice potion and use it to look like me." James handed him his potions homework. "And I'll make sure you get all of my potions homework for the next two months, so you better get it all done for me."

"James-" Albus started.

"Look, I need to go and take care of these burns. I'll see you later." James had wanted to make Albus do more for him, since he had just lost all of their house points in the attempt to get this, but he couldn't. Mixed in with the worry, and probably stronger, was relief. How could he make his brother do more when he had been so desperate to get the item in his hands that he had come to him in the first place? James could deal with everything else. He then left Albus there, though he could hear him rushing back to, he assumed, would be his friend to give him the bezoar.

Well, he wouldn't have to worry about everyone screaming to him about losing all of those points until tomorrow, thankfully. Or at least, that was what he thought. Not long after he walked away from Albus, he ran into Melinda.

"James, is it true that you're the reason our house points are at zero right now?" she asked.

"Well," James hesitated a moment. "Yeah, it's my fault."

Melinda bit her lip, and wouldn't look James in the eye any longer. "I can't keep going out with you James. This is the last straw. We're over. Through."

James felt his heart drop. No! She couldn't break up with him! He loved her. "Melinda, can't we talk about this? You're going to break up with me just because I lost those points? I can get them all back. Come on Melinda, I love you."

She tended, and moved away when James tried to grab her hand. James could see there were tears in her eyes. "It doesn't matter, it's over. You won't care by tomorrow, I promise. It'll wear off some time tonight, and… someone would just kill me if I did it again, so… so this is it."

James didn't understand what she was talking about. What was supposed to wear off sometime tonight? Why didn't she even care that he loved her? He'd do anything to stay with her. "Melinda, please-"

"No James. Enough. Look, if you still feel this strongly by tomorrow afternoon, come and talk with me again and I'll listen to what you have to say, but not until then," She shook her head, and wiped away her tears. "Okay? I'll even take you back if you still feel like this tomorrow afternoon…" she then turned and ran off.

James wanted to run after her, but he didn't. Of course he'd feel this strongly by tomorrow afternoon. He loved her, and that feeling didn't just disappear. Today was just an awful day over all, and showed no signs of getting better. He then continued on to the infirmary.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Detentions

Severus looked at the poly juice potion James had stolen from for him and put his hair in it already. It was all ready to go. Severus had never taken poly juice potion before, and this wasn't how he thought he'd be doing it for the first time. To do James' detention. It was worth it though; he just had to remind himself why he was doing this. It was in return for James' helping him help Alek. Alek. At least his friend was doing better now that he wasn't under the spell of the love potion any more. This was worth it. James had gotten him enough for the whole week's worth of detention so hopefully this would get easier to do as the week went on. He took a deep breath and took the poly juice potion.

Severus, who had done this in the bathroom near where he had to go to detention, watched in the mirror as he changed from looking like himself to looking like his older brother. It was such an odd feeling, as his body changed. This had to get easier the more times he did this, right?

Once he was James, the thought that he was James right now just disgusted him, he left the room and started off to the potion classroom. It was odd have people look at him as if he were James. He already hated this and he wasn't even at detention yet. It was so stupid that he was doing the detention that James had originally gotten for beating him up, he just had to keep reminding himself that he was doing this for Alek. As long as he kept thinking that then he would be able to get through this. Once he was done with the detention, he would also have to do the potion homework for James as well.

Severus walked into the potion classroom and sat down next to Scorpius. He hadn't been told that he would have the detention with Scorpius. At least it was someone he knew. James and Scorpius were both on the Gryffindor Quidditch team now, right? So, he should be able to get away with asking the blond what they were supposed to do without a problem. James should have told him what they were supposed to do.

"Hello Scorpius, so what are we supposed to do? Just clean things?" he asked. He hoped that it would be that simple. If it was, then it wouldn't be so bad. Hopefully.

Scorpius opened his mouth, and then closed it again. "Huh?" He was quiet a moment, before going on. "Well, _James, _we're supposed to be cleaning out the cauldrons and Professor Maxwell's office." Scorpius leaned in closer to him, and whispered, "Next time, don't use my name and you might pull it off."

"Oh, right, of course," Severus responded. James didn't even address Scorpius by his name? What did he call him then? He then spoke much softer, only wanting Scorpius to hear him, "Since you can already tell I'm not actually James, I'm Severus, we have ancient ruins and potions together," he explained. "I'm sorry James dragged you into all of this, he was doing something to help me and I guess it got really out of hand." He didn't blame himself for James getting Scorpius involved, he just felt bad about it and figured this would also be the closest thing Scorpius would get to an 'I'm sorry' from James. "Well, let's get cleaning then," he said. He went right to the first cauldron he was supposed to clean. He'd need to be careful, he didn't know what that stuff in it was. As he started to clean, he figured out right away that whatever had been made in here should not make contact with skin. It burned and Severus winced. "He should at least tell us if what's left in these things are dangerous, and certainly not have us just start cleaning them." What was wrong with the Professor Maxwell to have them clean up something that would cause actual damage to them?

Scorpius shrugged. "If you want, I can cast a spell to tell you what it is…" he nodded towards the cauldron, and gave a smile. "And call me kid when people are around, James would."

James called Scorpius kid? They weren't that many years apart. It didn't surprise him though. This was James they were talking about. Though, even though he was annoyed with James at the moment, he couldn't talk too badly about him. He did help him help Alek. "Thank you, it would be great if you could do that spell," Severus said. "I'd like to make sure that this stuff isn't going to do anything worse than burn me some; I know how to take care of burns." He knew most basic healing spells. He could do things like fix bruises, black eyes, bumps, scraps, and burns. He was still working on bones and things worse than that though. Scorpius waved his wand and scanned all the cauldrons in the room."Amortentia, Blemish Blitzer, Veritaserum, and Wiggenweld Potion. Just a bunch of scalding knuckles and probably a fair few singed hairs." He pocketed his wand again and picked up the scouring pad. "Don't worry, the stuff in the office will only do a few skin layers of damage."

Severus nodded and started to clean the first cauldron. He knew what all of the potions were, and was glad that no real damage would be done to him. He looked at the leftovers of the Amortentia potion. A love potion. Why would someone make a love potion here? It wasn't as though that was one that done normally in classes, at least not in any of the ones he had taken or knew of.

Severus hated love potions. They were horrible. Alek had looked happy, but he hadn't been really happy. A love potion gave people a false feeling of happiness, false feelings that were supposed to be something wonderful, or something. He had never been in love, but he imagined it was something wonderful. It was wrong to give people the false feelings of love. Anyone who would force that on someone had to be a horrible person. Like that girl who had given it to Alek…

_It hadn't been all that hard to figure out that Alek had been given a love potion. Severus still remembered how James acted when Melinda first started to give him love potions, and Alek was acting close to the same way right now. He just had to figure out what to do about it. He didn't know enough about love potions to know what the cure for them was. He had tried to talk with Alek a few times, but he hadn't really been able too. Alek could only think about that Sasha girl, and… Severus missed his best friend. Severus hated not being able to around Alek all the time. It wasn't as though he wanted to help Alek for selfish reasons, though he was sure that was part of it, Alek just couldn't stay on this love potion. _

_Severus thought over who he could ask about the love potion. Who used love potions? One name came to mind, Melinda. James' girlfriend always gave him love potions, he was sure she even made them, so she had to know what to do about them. He looked over at the time, good. The James Potter Fan Club should still be meeting in the library, so he should be able to find Melinda there. It still was horrible that there was such a thing, and, if he remembered correctly, there were even at least one or two Slytherin girls in that group. Why so many people liked his brother was beyond him. He wasn't sure what they saw him in._

"_Melinda, I need to talk with you," Severus said, waving her over. He had never gotten along with her all that well, but Severus had a strong feeling that most of the reasoning behind that was James seemed to not like him. _

"_What do you want Albus? Can't you see I'm busy right now?" She asked, looking back at the other girls in the group who had stopped what they were doing._

"_I need to know how to stop the effects of a love potions."_

_Melinda frowned, and Severus could see the anger in her eyes. "And why would you want to know what? Or better yet, why do you think I know anything about love potions?" Oh, she was probably thinking that he wanted to know to help James. Even if he wanted to help James with the love potion thing, he wouldn't go to the person who was giving James the love potion in the first place. _

"_I don't care about the fact you give one to James, and that's how I know you know about love potions. A friend of mine was given one, and I want to help him. He can't stay under the effects of one," Severus said._

_Melinda was quiet a moment. "I'm not sure I believe. Give me your friend's name and then wait here. I'll go and check this out. If your friend is under the effects of a love potion, if ,then I'll tell you how to fix this."_

_Severus frowned. She was making things so much more difficult than it should be. Couldn't she just tell him how to fix this? He had already told her that he didn't care she gave James the love potion. "Aleksander Donchev."_

"_Oh, you mean the Slytherin Seeker?" One of the Slytherin girls asked. Severus then noticed there were indeed two girls from that house in this club. "He has been acting oddly. I have Defense Against The Dark Arts with him. He seemed so interested in Sasha. I did think it was odd that those two just started dating. It makes sense that Aleksander is under a love potions."_

_Melinda paused. "Well, James has said that Aleksander is your best friend, so I guess I can help you. Thanks Jamie." Melinda then turned back to face Severus. "A Bezoar. You need to give him a bezoar and that will take care of everything."_

_Severus was quiet a moment. A bezoar? He wasn't even sure what that was. "Where do I get one?"_

_Melinda sighed. "Do I have to do everything for you? I thought you were smart about potions. I'm sure Professor Maxwell has one in his office. You just need to go and get it."_

_Severus nodded. He was sure if he talked with Professor Maxwell he could get a bezoar for Alek. Severus quickly made his way to the potion room and into Professor Maxwell's office. "Professor Maxwell?" he asked._

_Professor Maxwell looked up from what he was working on. For a split second Severus swore he saw the teacher smirk. No, it was probably just him seeing things. "How may I help you Mr. Potter?"_

_Mr. Potter. How he hated being called that. "A friend of mine was given a love potion and-"_

"_Was he now? There's nothing I can do for you about that."_

"_I was told you had a bezoar and-"_

"_I do have a bezoar, but I do not have many of them and they need to be used to cleanse the body of poisons more life threatening than a love potion. Your friend will just have to deal with it until it wears off."_

_Severus couldn't wait until it wore off. Thinking back to James, Severus knew how long those things could last. Alek couldn't stay on this thing for that long. "I understand." The look he was getting from Professor Maxwell was more than enough to tell him that he wasn't getting a bezoar from him. _

"_Now, I need to get things ready for your brother's detention."_

_Severus nodded and left. James had detention? Well… maybe he should get James to get it for him. He was sure if he asked James to do it for him if… Was he really going to ask James for help? James had beaten him up just on Monday, but… this was for Alek so he could do it, right? If it was for Alek he could do anything. _

_Severus hadn't wanted James to get hurt, but he was sure it was because it was of something James did that was stupid. He just was thankful to have the bezoar. He quickly found Alek. Sasha was just leaving it seemed, so he had a few moments to do something. He couldn't just try and use force. Alek was much stronger than him and Severus knew if he was going to have a chance he was going to have to use surprise. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about this Ale." He snuck up behind him and shoved the bezoar down his throat._

_Alek gagged and whirled around as he tried to get the bezoar out of his mouth. Severus knew he wouldn't be able too by this point and he knew his friend had already swallowed it. Instead of getting better right away, what Severus had assumed would happen, Alek started to shake violently, and he even moved to attack Severus. Alek was soon on the floor, clutching his stomach in pain and screaming in something Severus assumed was Bulgarian._

_Severus was going to kill Melinda if this didn't work. He was going to just… just… he didn't even care what happened afterwards. If Alek stayed in so much pain, Severus was going to have to drag him to the hospital wing for help, and then kill Melinda for doing this. The potion teacher had said something about a bezoar working though… Severus just felt panicked. What was he supposed to do? Alek.. Alek was in so much pain and it was his fault and.. And…_

"_Vat… Vat vos that?" _

_Alek seemed to be doing better, or at least not in so much pain. Severus felt relieved. "It was a bezoar. Someone gave you a love potion, a strong one, and that took care of it so you're not under it's spell anymore," Severus explained._

When Severus had finished cleaning for the night, he was covered in burns from the all of the cauldrons. He was thankful that it hadn't been anything all that bad. It had been tiring though, and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He didn't have that choice right now though. He still had to do James' potion homework. He walked to the library and checked out the book James would be using for his classes. As he looked for a place to study, he noticed Alek was there studying. Severus yawned as he walked over and sat across from Alek. "Make sure I stay awake, I have to finish James' potion homework before tomorrow." He opened his book and the book James would be using.

He just had to keep going back and forth between the two books until he understood what he was doing. This wasn't going to be fun. He had to teach himself everything he would need for this year for him to understand everything in James' homework. All of this was so stupid, why did James think he could do this? While Severus was good at potions, he was good at potions for his age. Not for people James' age.

Alek tilted his head and looked over the books. "Vi, if I may so ask, are you doing James' potion homework and his detentions?" He leaned over and looked at the books Severus was looking at.

It was only the first week of class, and Severus was already lost and confused about James' homework. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to do this. Then Alek asked this question and Severus was reminded why he had to do this. He had to do this because James had helped him help Alek. "Well, I wasn't sure how I was going to get that bezoar to help you. So, I asked James for some help. In exchange for helping me, he said I had to do all of his potions homework for two months, and go to detention for him for the weeks worth of it he has. It wouldn't be so bad, if all of the cauldrons I've been cleaning out didn't burn me." Severus put his head down on his desk down on the desk. He had to push himself back up and get back to work, but he just wanted to go to sleep. If it wasn't so late he'd take a nap or something. After only a moment, he pushed himself back up to get back to the homework. At least he had already finished all of his own.

Alek sighed and passed his wand over Severus' head. "Останете будни." He muttered. Severus suddenly felt himself get a lot more energy and was no longer worried about going to sleep right where he was sitting in here. "You're velcome." Alek smiled at him and soon was back doing his own homework.

James was in a good mood. It was a great Wednesday morning for him. The day before he had gotten back twenty points for Gryffindor thanks to his skills in DATDAs, as he had a lot of skill in the class and the teacher loved him. He wasn't even upset about Melinda breaking up with him anymore. It was so odd, he had been so sure he had loved her but now he didn't feel anything for her. Well, no use worrying about it anymore. He was also getting all of his potions homework for him by his brother. Still the best part of all of this was he had gotten no word from his parents after Professor Maxwell had said he had sent a letter to his parents, James had gotten no response. Everything was perfect. Well, the house points were: Gryffindor had 89, Slytherin had 390, Ravenclaw had 391, and Hufflepuff had 287. That kind of sucked, but as long as Slytherin wasn't winning he supposed it would be fine until Gryffindor came around and won in the end. Everyone loved a come back.

Then it happened. A large barn owl flew through the windows of the Great Hall, a bright red envelope in its talons. It fluttered down and placed the letter on James' plate, clicking its beak. James tentatively opened the letter and braced himself for his father's voice.

_Is it on? Ginny! How do you work this thing again? Oh, so if it's flashing that means it's working? Oh well... OH it's on! hang JAMES. Wait, I shouldn't start it like that? You know, I have half a mind to Floo your mother and ask her how this works... Oh, full name? SIRIUS POTTER. I AM ASHAMED OF YOU. NOT ONLY DID YOU GET DETENTION, BUT YOU RECEIVED IT FOR BEATING UP YOUR BROTHER! NOW I KNOW ALBUS IS IN SLYTHERIN, BUT HE IS FAMILY! FAMILY COMES FIRST! I AM ALSO VERY DISPLEASED THAT YOU WERE THE REASON GRYFFINDOR LOST SO MANY POINTS. HOW IS LILY SUPPOSED TO HAVE A GOOD YEAR IF YOU KEEP RUINING IT FOR HER! Oh, by the way, congrads Lily for making Gryffindor... Yes, Ginny I will. Your mother says good job. What? Oh yeah. Hugo, good job on Hufflepuff, we never had one of those in the family before! Oh and Avania, good job to you too. What? Oh, sure. Hi Neville, hello Luna! Hope you both are doing well, classes going alright? Oh, well... maybe you should just write us a letter. Anyways, I WANT YOU TO SHAPE UP OR SO HELP ME I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR QUIDDITCH PRIVILEGES! IF I HEAR OF YOU HURTING YOUR BROTHER IN ANY WAY I WILL SEND YOU HOME AND YOU WON'T SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY FOR A WEEK! I'M SERIOUS, I'LL SHOVE YOU IN A CUPBOARD. Well, maybe not, I know how bad that is and I don't want to subject you to anything that horrible...OH Lily, your friend can stay for Christmas break, your mother and I will have him be in James' room as punishment. SO GROW UP, JAMES!Love you all!~ Oh and Albus, you should write more! Your mother and I miss you..._Then the letter burst into flames and turned into a pile of ash.

James was silent a moment. It wasn't that he had gotten a hollower. He was honestly surprised this was the first time he had gotten one. The problem was, his father really couldn't send a good hollower. Everyone who didn't know that it was James' fault that Gryffindor was losing in house points, they knew now. It would blow over. It would just suck until it did. And his dad had threaten to take away quidditch from him!

"Next time we do something, we're not getting caught," David said.

James just nodded, trying to ignore all of the glares. He turned around to hear Rose laugh at him as well. Maybe he should just skip breakfast and go to class. Yeah… James grabbed something small and quickly made his way out of the Great Hall.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute

Lily was excited. It was October 30th, and that meant now at dinner the other schools were going to come! Dinner, well all meals really, was already one of her favorite times during the day. She almost always got to eat with Scorpius, or at least made the effort to have at least one meal with him a day. He was her best friend, and she only had two classes with him. History of Magic, what was starting to be her favorite class. It was always so interesting, and she wasn't sure why everyone thought it was so boring. She also had flying with him. She hated that class. She always had a lot of problems flying; she was afraid of heights. Flying was just so scary! She was trying really hard to get better though. Both of her parents were great on brooms and so was James. Scorpius was too, he had even made it onto the quidditch team as a first year!

Speaking of James though, it bothered her that he wasn't here. He wasn't here because he was he couldn't be here. James had been getting hurt badly in potion class recently. Her brother was in the hospital wing, recovering from horrible burns on most of his arms. It was a horrible sight when she went to visit him. Were the fourth year potions really that hard? It scared her to think about it. She was bad at potions right now as it was. Her lab partner was Avania, and they kept messing up the potions. Right now, she had only gotten very minor injuries, but it scared her to think of what would happen if she didn't get better as things got harder. But! Scorpius was amazing at potions and he was working to help her! So, there should be nothing to worry about!

A hush went over the whole room. A large powder-blue carriage pulled by huge winged horses was flying through the air, landing only a few yards from the students in the front. They skidded to a halt and the door, which held the crest of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, flung open, revealing what looked like Hagrid in woman form. She was tall, with short brown hair that fell just below her prominent chin. Her students shuffled out and stood near the carriage, waiting. The Headmistress walked up to McGonagall and gave her two pecks on the cheek."Minerva! Too long since I 'ave seen this school, too long since I 'ave seen you!" Professor McGonagall gave a quick smile and nodded."Yes indeed, Olympia. I wish it was easier to get to France but..." The words were cut short as the lake began to bubble and a giant mast was visible. Suddenly a cross-bow and sails unfurled as a ship slowly appeared out of the water. Students quickly tore their attention from the amazing horses as the full form of the Durmstrang ship and crest were visible. A large plank of wood appeared outside the ship and slowly students walked off, following a tall man with rounded-shoulders and dark black hair. He had a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows and walked like he had the feet of a duck. He barked something at his students and bowed low as he reached Professor McGonagall and Madame Maxime. "Hallu, Olympia, Minerva." He kissed both of their hands and smiled brightly, his surly face turning into a handsome and refined shape."Viktor! I 'aven't seen 'ou since the World Cup last 'ear! When did 'uo take Headmaster?" Maxime asked, a light blush falling over her cheeks."Vell, they vanted a new direction on the school, so vu better than a vunce student?" McGonagall smiled and ushered them all in with a smile.

During all of it, Lily grabbed Scorpius' arm and pointed to everything going on. "Isn't this so cool! Look at that!" This was just amazing! All of it! It was great they were coming here to do this. She couldn't wait to see all of tournament tasks!

Lily watched as the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students moved to Slytherin and Ravenclaw respectfully. She wasn't paying as much attention to the headmasters until Scorpius started talking about them. "Hey Lily! That's Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker! I wonder what he's doing here..."

"That's cool," Lily said. She knew who Viktor Krum was. She knew because her mother was on a professional quidditch team, and James loved watching all of the matches and everything.

Professor McGonagall held her hands up for silence and stood up."Welcome to Hogwarts, students of Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. We hope your stay here is both enlightening and rewarding and that the bonds of friendship between our three schools can grow and flourish." She paused for the polite applause and then cleared her throat again. "Today is a historic day, where the three wizarding schools once again unite to join in a time honored tradition of the TriWizard Tournament. To kick the ceremony off, I give you Montgomery Monimer, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation." A bright applause broke out as a young man with white-blonde hair stood up and bowed slightly."Thank you, now I know you are all excited and ready to see exactly what will happen this year. First, though, we must lay out those guidelines that the Ministry and your Headmasters have agreed upon. First that no one under the age of 17 is allowed to enter the TriWizard Tournament. Second, the tasks are dangerous and have been known to cause serious injury or death to those in this tournament, so know what you are getting into. Third, one champion from each school will participate and the winner will receive eternal glory and the honor of having the next TriWizard Tournament at their school. Now since we've gotten that out of the way, Mr. Lupin."He flung his hand back as a man with neon green hair and pure violet eyes rolled a large podium up, a box laying on top. When he reached the front, he pulled open the box and a gilded goblet sat with blue flames dancing from it."If you wish to enter, put your name in the Goblet of Fire. Clearly write which school you are from and your full name on a sheet of paper and just... poof!" Monimer said with a chuckle as Lupin walked to take a seat at the table next to Krum. "The cup will be available all day tomorrow and the names will be drawn at the Halloween feast tomorrow evening. Until then!" He sat back down and Professor McGonagall simply said, "Tuck in," and the feast began.

"What house do you think our champion will be from? Wouldn't it be cool if they were from Gryffindor?" Lily asked. She thought about how cool it would be if someone from Gryffindor actually was chosen to be the champion. Someone from their house! It would be great! Amazing! Maybe it could even be someone she knew, but she really didn't know a lot of seventh years, besides James' friends.

Scorpius grinned and nudged Lily gently in the side. "That would be amazing! Do you think one of those seventh years would do it?" He scanned the table, before turning back to Lily. "Whoever it is, I think it's going to be amazing."

Before Lily responded to him, her eyes went over to her cousin Rose. It looked like some guy from Durmstrang was talking with her. She wondered who he was, and why he wanted to talk with Rose. Lily was sure that everything was fine though, so she wouldn't worry about it.

"James has a few seventh year friends that he said were planning on trying to be the champion," Lily finally responded. The main one who came to find was David, James' best friend. She even pointed him out to Scorpius before remembering that Scorpius would already know him, being as David was the captain of the quidditch team. "Well, who ever is going to be the champion from Hogwarts, I hope they're the won who wins. It's going to be fun to watch." She planned on going to watch all of the events and everything. As soon as all of this was done she would have to go and talk with James and tell him everything that had happened here. She was sure he'd be thankful for it. It had to be boring just waiting around the hospital wing in a bed recovering all the time.

After everything had calmed down, Scorpius yawned and left to go get some sleep. Lily started to make her way to the Hospital wing. She was stopped by some of her friends. "Lily! Did you see all of that? It was great!" Misa asked. The brown haired girl was a first year Gryffindor too.

"I did! It was amazing!" Lily said brightly.

"There's so many more people!" Kara said. Kara was a blond first year Gryffindor, and was on the short side for their class. "And, I heard a rumor that your cousin Rose is off with someone from Durmstrang! Someone saw her go outside, and one of those guys chased after her!"

"You're such a gossip!" Tina pointed out, laughing. She was another first year Gryffindor, and Lily thought she had to be one of the best first year in charms.

"I saw a guy talking with Rose," Lily pointed out. She wondered if that was guy they were talking about. Lily loved hanging out and talking with her friends, but she wished she spent as much time with Scorpius as she did with these three. She might have tried to pull him off to see James with her if he hadn't seemed tired.

"Oooh! So might be true!" Kara said brightly.

"Where are you going anyway Lily?" Misa asked.

"To see James. He missed all of the excitement and I wanted to tell him about it," Lily explained.

"Ooh, you're going to see James! You're brother's really cute, you know that. I hear he's even single right now," Kara said.

Lily frowned. It as always so odd to listen to her friends talk about her brother like that. They walked about her brother like he was really great or something. Well, she did think he was great but for different reasons. She didn't see how they found him attractive, or anything like that. She guessed it made sense they would think he was great because he was good at quidditch and with defense against the dark arts.

"Oh knock it off Kara. I'm sure Lily doesn't want to listen to you talk about how hot you think her brother is," Misa said. "Just let Lily go and talk with her brother."

"We'll see you later Lily, you go and talk with James," Tina said. The three girls soon left and Lily continued onto hospital wing.

Lily walked into the hospital wing. "James!" She said brightly, walking over to the bed he was in.

James looked over to Lily. "Hey Lily, I'm glad you're here. It's so boring here, there's nothing to do at all." he complained.

"It was awesome James! You should have seen it! There was a big boat and a huge horse drawn carriage! Everything was so cool! And all of the students came out and bo..bout" Lily frowned. "the French students' uniform looked so cute!" She was having trouble pronouncing the name of the French school. "But it was really cool, and tomorrow they're going to say who all the champions are! You'll be out of here by then, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be out of here in the morning," James said. He looked at Lily's hands. Lily had minor burns on them from potion class, but they were never as bad as James' burns and she never got sent to the hospital wing so she didn't worry about it. "Get those in potions class too?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it looks like we both suck at potions," James laughed. "Just be careful and it shouldn't be a problem. I mean, I don't think we ever did anything dangerous in first year." James thought a moment. "Well, my partner helped me a lot my first year, and my second year, and Melinda helped me a lot last year… Who's your partner anyway?"

"Avania! It's really fun to have a class with her!" Lily said brightly.

James laughed. "Well, as long as it makes you happy to have her as a partner I guess." James paused a moment, his eyes going to the clock in the room. "You should probably get to bed soon, it's getting late."

"But," Lily whined. She had come to see her brother and he was already telling her to go to bed. Hadn't he said he was bored? It wasn't even that late was it?

"Come on, you don't want to be tired tomorrow do you?" James asked.

"Fine, but only if you sit next to me tomorrow when they're saying who the champions are," Lily said. She wanted to spend more time with James, and it made her a bit sad that she didn't the chance that often.

"Yeah, that's fine," James said.

"Yay! Good night James!" Lily hugged James. "I'll see you tomorrow then!" Lily then ran off back to the Gryffindor Tower.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

Here We Go Again

Severus yawned. Most of the day he had been sleeping, only leaving once for breakfast. He was hungry, but he had been skipping meals more than he would like anyway this past month for sleeping, so why stop now? It was a horrible cycle. He's be up most of the night working on James' potion homework, and then he'd fall asleep in his classes. He'd then need to teach himself what he missed in that class along with the potion homework for that night, what caused him to get less sleep. Thankfully, James had been stupid and gotten himself hurt in potions class on Thursday, so he couldn't give Severus the weekend homework. James was out of the hospital wing now, or at least should be by this point, but he didn't see his brother going to talk with Professor Maxwell about getting the homework. Speaking of Professor Maxwell, Alek seemed to hate him and Severus wasn't sure why.

Severus pulled himself out of bed, wanting to actually eat dinner. He was thankful he had been able to sleep all day. It would still take a little while before he would be able to catch up on all of the sleep he desperately needed, but this was a good start. He left and found Alek studying in the common room. "Alek, let's go and get dinner. They're suppose to say who the champions are." Severus didn't care who became the champion, but he was grateful that James was too young to try and compete. As much as he could dislike his brother, he didn't want him to get killed. Though, with their luck James wouldn't have even been chosen anyway.

Severus and Alek sat down just before the starting of the drawing of the names started.

The Hall quieted down as Professor McGonagall stood up. Lupin was wheeling up the Goblet of Fire to the front."Students, the time has come for the drawing of the Champions! When I call your name, walk across the staff table and enter the room at the end." The crowd clapped and suddenly grew quiet again as the cup glowed red and a piece of paper flew into her hand. She unfolded it and smiled."From Beauxbaton, Antoinette Petit!" The crowd broke into wild applause as the Champion walked up to the staff table and disappeared into the room. The Goblet once again glowed red and then another slip came out and McGonagall caught it."From Hogwarts, Avanjolen Blake!" The Ravenclaw stood up and disappeared into the room. Finally the cup glowed once more and the last slip came floating into the professor's hand."From Durmstrang, Nicola Mladenov!" He stood up, smiling over to Rose before he disappeared into the room. "Thank you all! We are looking forward to..." The goblet glowed again and one more slip flew over into the hand of professor."Why does this ALWAYS happen." Her voice was tight as her eyes scanned the Slytherin table. "Albus Potter."

Alek looked over at his friend. "Severus, I think your name came out of the Goblet." He nudged him.

Severus didn't move. Not an inch until Alek nudged him. They couldn't force him to be apart of something so dangerous. They couldn't really think he'd be able to do something like this and-

"This is wrong! Albus can't do this! He's too young! Hogwarts already has a champion! It doesn't need another one! You can't let him compete! You can't!" James had stood up and started yelling. People were looking at him, Severus was sure, but Severus still didn't want to move. He didn't want to go. He was afraid. This was going to get him killed. James even… well, Severus wasn't sure about the reasoning James was using to start screaming, but it was similar to how Severus felt. He was too young for this. Hogwarts already had a champion, so… so he wouldn't need to do anything, right? It wasn't until Alek nudged him again that he got up and left the great hall to go to where the other champions were. They'd take care of this when he got there, right? Tell him he wouldn't have to complete, right? They couldn't make him. He wouldn't do it. He didn't want to die.

Once Severus got up there, Professor McGonagall directed him to stand with the others and then shooed them into the room away from prying eyes."Professor, vat is going on?" Nicola asked.

Krum walked in after McGonagall and placed his hand on Nicola's shoulder. "You should not vorry, this happened ven I vas chosen. Someone is trying to kill a Potter. Again."

McGonagall sighed and placed her hand over her eyes. "I knew something like this would happen. Always with the Potters, nothing normal can happen with one of them around." She looked over to Severus and sighed. "Not that I am blaming you, Mr. Potter, but your family has an impressive track record for causing trouble."

"K-kill?" Severus asked. He felt his fear rising. He hadn't even thought about someone trying to kill him by putting him in this thing, only that he might get killed by the tournament itself. Who would want to kill him? Why would someone want to kill him? It wasn't fair. And… and they were just going to let it happen? They knew someone was trying to kill him and they would just go along with the plan? Whoever was trying to kill him wanted the tournament to do it for them, and they were going to go along with it? Severus could just refuse, couldn't he? He could just not do it, right? They couldn't make him… they couldn't make them. 

What made everything worse was the thing he hated most was happening. He was being lumped in as just another Potter. Lumped in with the rest of his family. He didn't want to be just another Potter. He was his own person. It was the whole reason he went by Severus instead of Albus. It was the reason he kept his hair blond instead of black. It was the reason he did so many things and… here he was. Albus Potter. Just another Potter continuing the family's track record. Just another person being thrown into the draw of a famous name, if it wanted it or not. And he did not. It wasn't fair. It wasn't just Albus Potter. He was mustn't a Potter. He was Severus and.. And.. This was going to destroy that.

"Rules are rules, Minerva." Monimer said as he walked through the room, Lupin following suit. Madame Maxime and Krum both shot worried looks at the man."Vell, ve could change the tasks," Nicola suggested, "make them easier for the boy." He smiled encouragingly at Severus and placed a hand on his shoulder."No, Mr. Mladenov, the tasks have already been set in stone and are impossible to change." Monimer moved to gather up the champions."Since this rather unexpected..." Professor McGonagall made a soft coughing noise and shot a look to Monimer. "Well, almost unexpected thing happened, we're going to move on as planned. With four champions." He nodded and gave them all winning smiles."The first task will be on November 18th, good luck to you all!" Monimer and Lupin exited the room and the Headmasters all sighed." 'Uo 'ave done it again, Minerva. But now 'e know what to look furr." Madam Maxime muttered, looking over at Severus."I am sorry." And she lead her champion out. Krum sighed and gave the boy a small pat."Vill you be alvright?" He asked the boy. "I know you are a Potter, you vill be great." And he grabbed Nicola, who winked at him, and the two Bulgarians exited.

No. He wasn't going to do great because he was a Potter. If he was going to be great ay anything, it was going to be because of who he was and nothing to do with being a Potter. "I'll be fine," he said softly.

Fine? How was he going to be fine? He was afraid that he was almost shaking. November 18th, that was so soon. How was he going to get ready by then? He wouldn't even know what to get ready for? What if he died because he didn't know what he was up against? What if he found out what if he was up again, and ended up dying anyway? What if he died?

Severus didn't move until he took a few deep breaths. He didn't like the looks he was getting from the other champions either. He wanted to just run away. He also wanted to go and talk with Alek. Talking with Alek would make him feel better, right? In the great hall, he first looked to the Slytherin table. Alek wasn't in his seat. Severus bit his lip and looked soon found him. He was talking with Rose and James?

Severus didn't want to talk to any of his family. He didn't want to be near them right now. They would worry about him. Try to calm him down. Do things that would make things worse. He had heard James yell before, and didn't want to deal with that right now. Rose.. Severus was worried about her trying to help him right away, and Severus didn't think he could handle thinking a lot about that. He didn't need help! He just needed to run away and hide and… and… His want to walk with Alek was being over weighted by his want to hide and run away.

It went through his head that he doubted his father felt this way when he was pulled into the Triwizard tournament all those years ago. He was sure his father didn't even think about refusing to do this. He doubted his father was so afraid that he almost started shaking. He was sure if James had been pulled into this instead of him he wouldn't be acting like this. James would be excited at a chance to prove himself. James would feel he couldn't wait until the first task. James would want to be just like their father. Severus just found himself asking, why him?

Severus quickly slipped out of the Great Hall. He didn't want to be around people. He didn't want to deal with anything right now. He just… he might have stayed with Alek wasn't next to Rose and James. Why was his friend with them anyway? It wasn't like James and Alek got along ever, or at all. No, it was a shock that they would be talking to each other at all without trying to kill each other. He assumed that Alek didn't like James because James did things to Severus, but he wasn't completely sure why James seemed to hate Alek so much. Well, Alek was a Slytherin and James seemed to think that was good enough a reason to dislike a person.

Severus thought about where to go. There were a lot of people he could run away and probably get away with being alone. That wasn't really what he wanted though. He didn't want to be all alone. He just… there weren't really any people he wanted to be around right now. There was really only one person he wanted to talk with, be around right now. Alek. Why did his best friend have to be with two of the people he didn't want to see right now? Well, he'd just go somewhere that those two couldn't go. The Slytherin common room.

Severus went into the common room and sat down in one of the chairs. He was alone for right now, and hopefully would be for a while. Maybe he should go to his bed… No, he didn't even want to move anymore. This wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

He just sat there for a little while, trying to force himself to calm down. He wasn't sure how long it took, but soon Alek came into the common room. Alek walked right over to him, and threw his arms around him and sighed. "Vhy… Vhy is it alvays you…" He muttered into Severus' shoulder.

Severus looked at Alek, feeling a lot better with the other there already. "Alek... I'm afraid. I don't want to get killed. I don't want to have to do this at all... They-they can't actually make me, right?" It was clear to him that everyone was expecting him to do this, but he didn't care what people thought. He didn't care if they all thought he was a coward or weak or anything. He'd be alive. He'd just refuse to do it. He could do that right? "I don't know what to do."

Alek chuckled softly and gave Severus a tight squeeze. "You shouldn't be afraid. I vill alvays be here to protect you." He stepped back a little and smiled down at his friend."As for refusing, you should not. I know you von't vant to do it, but think about it. if you vere to vin, you could be your own person, never haff to live up to your family name. You could be Severus."

Severus did feel better when Alek told him he shouldn't be afraid because he'd protect him. As he continued to listen Alek, he felt like maybe he was right. Maybe he should do this, even if he didn't want to at all, because maybe Alek was right. If he did this and won, people would see him for him right? Not just for his name. If Alek was going to help him with this, then maybe he stood some kind of chance. "Alright, I'll do it." He'd at least try, and hopefully with Alek's help he wouldn't have to worry about getting killed. Killed. That still scared him deeply, but he'd just have to work hard not to let that happen. "The first challenge is on November 18," he explained. So soon, and he didn't even have a clue what it would be.

Alek smiled and then ruffled Severus' hair."Vell ve better get on that. ve don't vant you to be unprepared." He motioned for the them to walk up to the bed."But for now, ve must sleep. Ve can find out vat to do in the morning."

Sleep. Yeah, that sounded nice. He had spent all day sleeping, but it was tiring with all of this going on. He wasn't going to get killed. He kept telling himself that over and over again as he followed Alek to their beds. Alek wouldn't let him die, right?

It worried him that he still had another month of doing James' potion homework. How could he get ready for the task if he could hardly stay awake. He spent so much time doing homework or sleeping that he would have no time to practice spells to help him with this. He was going to die. Maybe he should talk with James about not doing it for him anymore. He didn't think he could do it anymore. James would understand, right? James had to understand. Maybe James would let him rain check it? Oh that wouldn't end well. If he tried to do James' potion homework at a later date, then he would have to teach himself everything in between the time he stopped and the time he started again. He'd have to think of something,

Severus laid down on his bed. People still weren't back yet from the feast, what he was grateful for, and maybe he could get to sleep before they all came back and made a lot of noise. Everything would be okay… he just needed to keep telling himself that.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Part one:

The Never Ending Monday

James still hadn't talked with Albus as Monday rolled around. He had wanted to talk with him, tell him that he wanted to help him now that someone was trying to kill him. He had to at least tell his brother he didn't have to do his potion homework anymore. James wasn't stupid. He had seen how tired Albus looked all the time and he didn't want that when his brother would be getting ready for the Triwizard Tournament. He had sent a letter to his father about what was going on, but he hadn't gotten a response yet.

James would find his brother had force him to talk with him. He couldn't use the maurder's map right now, but, after a lot of searching, he had found his brother's class list again. Oh, he could just get to his second class early. Albus' first class was DATDA's and that was James' second class. It would work out fine. He didn't care if he made his brother late to class or not. Albus could deal with stuff like that.

But first, James moved over to Aleksander. He had already looked into where he was going, with the mauder's map before putting it away to hide it. He walked over to Aleksander. "Aleksander," he called, before reminding himself he needed to stay calm. After the fight he had with the Slytherin the night before, James wanted to start a fight with him. He had to stay calm. "Look, I know Albus won't let me help him, so you better make sure he gets the help he needs during the tournament. If anything happens to him, I'll hold you responsible."

Aleksander looked over James. "I vas planning on that, James, and I don't need to haff you dog me to do it." he turned away and shot a dangerous look over his shoulder. "And as for anything happening..." something dangerous flashed in his eyes. "I vill not allow it." Aleksander just walked away then.

That was fine. He didn't care if Aleksander was annoyed or angry with him, as long as he was helping Albus. James wished he could help his brother, and would try, but this was the better option at the moment. Even as much as James hated Aleksander for all the power he had over Albus, and that horrible attitude of us, he couldn't deny that he felt he could try Aleksander to do whatever he could to keep Albus safe. He wasn't sure if it would be enough though. How could a thirteen year old be able to do things they wanted an eighteen year old to do? Albus wouldn't be ready and-

James started to walk to class. He was going to be late. His the teacher of his class of the day actually cared if he was late or not, and he didn't want to get into trouble.

XxXxXxXxX

James had left his first class early. He had told the teacher before class the truth, kind of. The truth as far as James saw it at least, that Albus was having a lot of problems after being drawn into the Triwizard Tournament and James had to make sure that his brother had actually gone to class and was not still freaked out. It had worked perfectly, and now James was standing outside of the DATDA's room. Wait. James recognized the voices he heard in the room.

"I came here for you! Also, I am here to help you. James sent word about you being in the TriWizard Tournament. Now this may seem harsh and a bit hypocritical, but I need to know. Did you put your name in the Goblet or have someone else do it for you?" It was their dad. James felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. His dad had come after getting the letter he had sent. He'd make sure that Albus was fine in the tournament. He had to make sure Albus would be fine. James decided to wait for a moment before he walked into the class room.

"I didn't put my name in or get someone else to do it. Just the thought of doing this scares me." Of course it would scare Albus. James was scared for him. "I need to get to my next class; I'm going to get worse." Well, time to go inside.

James walked into the room and smiled. He watched as Albus tried to get away from their dad, only to be pulled into a hug. James couldn't help but laugh. Albus looked so uncomfortable. James knew what he had to do. He walked over to them. "Dad! I'm glad you here." James then joined in the hug.

During this last class, James had come up with a plan on how he was going to help Albus, even if Albus didn't want his help. He could start his newest plan to help Albus a lot easier if he did this part of it now. "Oh, and since you're here Albus, I think I understand my potions homework enough that you don't have to help me with it anymore." See, and this would also make it look like they got along better than they really were, and let Albus understand he didn't need to do any more of his homework. Maybe that was why he was doing so poorly in his potions class? He wasn't doing any of homework... maybe. It made more sense to him than Rose's idea of being people out to kill them all.

Rose's whole idea of the potions teacher being out of get him, his sister, and his brother was just so stupid. Just because someone had put Albus into this tournament, and just because James was doing bad in potions class didn't mean anything. There was no proof that the two things were even related at all. If, on the off chance, Rose was right, with his dad here, James was sure his dad wouldn't let anything like a teacher hurting them happen.

Harry chuckled and gave them another big hug. "Well, I suppose I better let you go Albus. Don't want you too late for... Whatever it is you have." He smiled wearily and waved good bye as he left the room. Turning to James, he place a hand on his shoulder."I'm very proud of you for owling me as soon as you did. It almost makes up for your rash behavior at the beginning of the term. I know you aren't on the right foot with most of the Slytherin folk, heck I never was, but I need you to try for your brother's sake." He smiled and gave him another squeeze before motioning to a desk and turning to the filling classroom.

James smiled and watched Albus run off, before turning back to his father. "I know. I've been trying to get along better with Albus and some of the other Slytherins." He listened to his friends in the class laugh at that, knowing that the only Slytherin that James would ever attempt to get along with was Albus. James turned and glared at them, causing them to stop laughing. James turned back to his dad. "I'm glad you're here to help Albus." James then went and sat down next to his friends.

XxXxXxXxX

James took a deep breath. He had to do this. It would work. He was going to go and attack his little brother, trap him in the hospital wing. If Albus was hurt, badly hurt, then he wouldn't be able to be a part of the Triwizard Tournament. He had used the Maurder's map to make sure Albus would be alone. Just one attack. Just hit him hard and fast let and let be the end of it. He'd then take Albus to the hospital wing and everything would be fine…

Fine. Could he really say that? Albus might end up being afraid of him. Albus might end up hating him for this. James was fine with that. He rather have Albus hate him, have Albus be afraid of him, but still be alive than have Albus die in the tournament. "Albus!" he called when he saw him. As soon as Albus turned to him, James said one of the spells he had been working on in DATDAs.

James watched as the spell hit the stunned Albus, and as Albus went flying and ended up hitting the near by wall. He felt sick. Albus… he had flown further than James had wanted, and he wasn't moving. James' breath started to become uneven as he rushed over to him. "Albus? Albus are you…" Albus didn't respond. James quick got his brother onto his back and hurried to the hospital wing. Thankfully, no one stopped or questioned him. His brother was still breath, but was unresponsive. He was probably just knocked out form hitting his head. James didn't even know how injured Albus was.

James got into the Hospital wing, and set Albus down on a bed. He didn't remember his brother being so heavy, but he supposed this was the first time he had carried his brother in a while. His brother was still light though, and James had no problems carrying him here. "Madame Pomfey!" he called.

Madame Pomfey came over to him. She looked down at Albus and then turned to James. "What happened to him?"

James was glad that he had thought up what he was going to say before he had attacked Albus. Just looking at his brother made James sick. It was his fault his brother was hurt… It had been such a good idea, but James had hurt Albus so badly. He was having trouble thinking straight, feeling horrible for hurting his brother, even if he had a great reason. "I was helping my brother practice magic. I thought he could block the spell I threw at him, but he couldn't. He went flying and hit a wall. I-is he going to be okay?"

Madame Pomfey looked over Albus for a few minuets. "He has a few broken bones, and a nasty bump on his bed, but he'll be fine with some rest."

It didn't make James feel much better hearing Albus was going to be okay. He still felt sick for doing this to him. James had wanted to protect him! This… What made everything worse was James hadn't even hurt Albus bad enough for him to stay in the hospital wing long enough to matter. He would probably be out later today. All James had done was hurt his brother and all that would happen because of it was Albus would have less time to get ready for the first task.

James had to do something to make up for this. He wasn't sure what could make up for this, but he knew where he could start. He would go and find Aleksander again and get him to be there with Albus. Albus would feel better if he was with Aleksander when he woke up, right?

Once James was out of the hospital wing, he went into a near by bathroom and into one of the stalls. Taking out the Marauder's map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," James said softly, taping the map with his wand. He opened the map and looked for where Aleksander was. Once he was sure he would be able to find him without a problem, James put the map back into his pocket. If he had been thinking more clearly, he would have made the map hidden again, but his mind was not where it should be.

James quickly made his way to where Aleksander was. He didn't want to miss him. He wanted this conversation to be as quick as possible. He wanted to go and… and… just not think about all of this anymore. Or go and throw up. "Aleksander, my brother was hurt and I'm sure he'll feel better if you're there when he wakes up." There. That should be all he needed to say, right? Then he could go back to the Gryffindor tower and rest. Rest and try and think of how he was going to make it up to Albus.

Aleksander scowled at him and growled out a thank you before running off. James knew Aleksander was running off to make sure Albus was fine. Fine, there was that word again. Albus wasn't fine. James had hurt him. James had hurt him badly.

James had one more class today, but he wasn't going to go to it. There was no point in it. He wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything. He just walked back to the Gryffindor Common room and sat down in one of the chairs. It was empty now, since almost everyone was in class at the moment. James thought about what he should do now. If Albus remembered what happened, what he might not with that head injury, then James felt sure if Aleksander ever found out it was him who attacked Albus he'd make sure Albus would stay away from him. In trying to help his brother, he had ruined his chance with it. He wouldn't be able to get near him. He wouldn't be able to… he would be able to find him alone. He had the Marauder's Map. He wasn't sure if he wanted too. He wasn't sure he deserved to be near Albus. To try and help Albus and-

As James sat in the Gryffindor Common room, Lily came up to him. "James, is it true that Severus got hurt?" she asked, clearly worried. James just nodded. "What happened? Where is he now? He's not badly hurt it is?" she asked quickly.

James couldn't tell her what he did. He couldn't let Lily find out how horrible a person he was. He had to tell her something right? Oh, right. He still had the Maurer's map open. He turned away from Lily for a moment, quickly finding what he was looking for, and hid the map away again. "I think he still needs some rest, but he'll be fine. You should go to the hallway that leads to the potions room," James said. He was hoping that Lily would get there fast enough to talk with Scorpius before the blond got to class. James didn't want to deal with Lily right now, and Scorpius was her best friend so he figured that was good enough for him to do.

Once Lily had gone, James took out his map again. "Mischief Managed," he said, tapping the map and putting it away again. No need to have to worry about someone seeing it. He doubted his dad knew he had stolen it, and he didn't need a lot of people to figure out he had it. His friends didn't even know he had it. James might actually use it more if he had gotten that invisible cloak he had hidden in his sister's things. He had been worried about his parents checking his bags, as it wouldn't be the first time it had happened, so he put it in Lily's bag after he had seen his parents go through it. He just hadn't gotten back.

James looked over when he heard someone come into the common room. James was enjoying being alone and wanted to see who was going to disrupt that. It was Aleksander? He frowned. "How did you get in here? You're not supposed to know the password. You should leave, now," he said. His hand was in his pocket, holding onto his wand. If this got violent, James was going to be ready for anything. He was not in a good mood as it was, and he didn't want to deal with Aleksander.

Alek's mouth twitched as James walked towards him in the common room. His hand reached down into his robes and gripped his wand."Vell, how vould I know the passvord if I vasn't invited?" He chuckled darkly as he took a step towards him. His eyes glinted in malice as he pulled the wand out."Vould you mind telling me vhy you hurt Severus?" So, Aleksander did know that it was him who attacked Severus. This hope that things wouldn't get violent was leaving him quickly. He heard Aleksander do a spell, but he couldn't tell what it did. "Or vill you feed me another... how you say... Bulk Shifft excuse?" Aleksander advanced on him, muttering something in took out his wand the moment he saw Aleksander's wand. So, they was going to get violent, weren't they? That was fine with him. He was already in a bad mood, and even he felt he deserved whatever Aleksander planned on doing to him, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He was in the year above Aleksander, and the best in his class at defense against the dark arts. He was not afraid of losing. Not at all. Besides, he had been wanting to hurt Aleksander for a while, and this seemed like the perfect chance. He had to answer Aleksander's question though. He wouldn't admit the truth, there was no way he was going to admit the truth. At least not to Aleksander. "It's clear you don't care why I did it, so I'm not even going to bother with a response. Besides, what do you want me to say? That I was in a bad mood and felt like hurting him? That I'm just a bad person? I know you weren't invited here, so don't even joke about that. I feel bad for whatever Gryffindor you had to hurt to get the password." James wondered if part of what he was saying was only because he wanted to be hurt like he hurt his brother. That was fine with him. This was a win-win situation. Either he would win and get to hurt Aleksander, or he'd lose and the pain would make him feel better. See, he really couldn't lose.

Aleksander growled at James' response and ran towards him wand brandished."You vill be sorry for ever messing vith my best friend, confringo!" He muttered the blasting needed to react quickly if he was going to make sure he didn't get hit from Aleksander's spell, though part of him wondered if he actually let this spell hit him if it would enough to make Aleksander stop all of this. He wasn't going to risk taking a hit that might not end this. He also didn't know how far Aleksander was willing to go with this. "Protego!" He used the shield spell, hoping that would be enough to stop this spell, or at least take most of the damage. Though, it bothered him greatly that Aleksander was using such strong spells against him right off the back. He was going to be put on the defensive right away, and he had to be able to fight back if he was going to win, but it worried him how hurt he might get now that it was clicking into his head how bad the situation was. "Are you crazy? You're lucky no one else is here other wise you could really hurt someone," he said. He made sure to keep moving and keep Aleksander away from him.

Alek laughed deeply, the sound bouncing off the walls of the common room."The only vun I vish to hurt is you, James. Salvio hexia!" James knew that spell. It would take away his voice. If he lost his voice, that would be it. He wouldn't be able to defend himself. He would be at Aleksander's mercy, and he wasn't sure that Aleksander had any mercy for him right now.

James thought about what Aleksander had said. He only wanted to hurt him. It made sense, and James knew there had to be other people around here somewhere, probably sleeping or skipping classes. It had just been luck that no one else was in the common room. People would be coming back from classes soon. Soon, there would be other people here no matter what, and James wouldn't let anyone else get hurt because of this. If Aleksander wanted to hurt him, then James would let him hurt him. He'd just get Aleksander back later. He didn't even try to counter the spell. He made no movement at all. So, it would just take his voice away. James was not good at doing spells without using his voice, and wouldn't risk using one intended to do damage. He'd just let Aleksander do what he wanted now, get it over with, and deal with everything else afterwards.

Aleksander walked up to James and placed his wand at the boys throat."I vant to hurt you, make no mistake on that. But, I am not you so..." he flicked his wand once and cut upward on James' forearm. Two snakes entwined was etched onto the flesh and then slowly disappeared into his arm. He wasn't him… Aleksander thought he was a monster or something for hurting Albus, didn't he? He wasn't a monster! He had only wanted to help but… he had hurt Albus so badly. Maybe he was just a horrible person. He had knocked Albus out and now he wasn't sure if his brother would ever forgive him. James hated himself at the moment. "If you so much as think of hurting Severus again, those snakes vill hurt you. Imagine the Cruciatus curse times five." the boy smirked and removed the silence charm from James. "Think before you act!" and he turned to leave the tower.

James looked at his arm a moment, and then turned to watch Aleksander start to leave. He wasn't sure what came over him, but... "If Albus was hurt he wouldn't be able to be a part of The Triwizard Tournament. If he was lying in the hospital wing, he couldn't be killed. I rather have to hurt him myself, rather have him hate me for it, than let him die. Do you really think I'd hurt Albus for no reason? He is my brother. I didn't think the spell I used would do that much damage to him. I didn't think... he wasn't supposed to get hurt that badly," James stopped talking, cutting himself off. He didn't see the point in say anything else. He didn't care what Aleksander thought of him, or this stupid spell Aleksander had placed on him. If he honestly thought about hurting Albus... well, he did some times, and this curse was not going to be fun. He'd have to try and figure out a way to stop it. Still, he never wanted to cause his brother that much pain again. It was natural for brother's to fight sometimes. It just wasn't supposed to be this bad. Aleksander paused and turned back to look at James. "Vhy didn't you say that in the first place?" he walked back and held out his wand muttering something as the snakes appeared and slowly faded again."The pain isn't gone, just lessoned. Now you vill just fell the urge to scratch." He walked back and exited the room. Good, James didn't want to talk with him any more. He hadn't wanted to talk with him to begin with. James wanted to be alone, so he got up and went to his bed. He had a better chance to be left alone here than if he stayed in the common room. Maybe if he got that urge to scratch it would remind him that he shouldn't hurt Albus again, or at least remind him of this and that he shouldn't hurt his brother that badly. Nothing that normal brothers didn't do. He was still sure that if he had told the truth to Aleksander, that he wouldn't have believed him.

How things had ended was fine with him. The first task was coming up soon, and he wasn't sure if Albus was going to be ready for it. He sighed, knowing there wouldn't be much he could do about it. He wasn't planning on leaving his bed, and just doing his homework here, but he heard something. While he wasn't sure he cared, it sounded like someone was crying. James figured he might as well see who was so into the common room, he saw Scorpius there, crying. James debated for a moment, before walking over to him. "Hey," he said. While James care for Scorpius one way or another , it was clear he was Lily's friend. He'd just try to make him feel better, besides, he was still in a bad mood and this would take his mind off of that. "What's wrong?" he asked. Maybe he could do one good thing today.

Scorpius looked up. "Just... nothing" He curled away from him.

"You're not that good at lying," James pointed out bluntly. When Scorpius moved away from him, James moved to stay in eye contact. "There's clearly something wrong, and I'm not going to stop bugging you until you tell me about it," he stated. It might be mean, but what was he supposed to do? Just leave Scorpius here sulking? That wasn't his style. Besides, Scorpius was on the quidditch team and James did try to help out all of the members of that if he could.

He sighed and looked James in the eyes."Do you ever feel hated for ..." he sighed and rolled his eyes in frustration. "What do I know, everyone loves _you_. Your family was on the right side of the war..." He tried to move away again but James wouldn't let him. Scorpius glared at James. "I'm just having trouble fitting in with the lion pack."

James sighed, thinking he was kind of getting it. He had never been hated, that was for sure, but he did know that things that their parents did could come back to haunt you. "You know, whatever your parents did in the past shouldn't effect you at all. I mean, from what I can tell you're a lot better than the rest of your family is," he stated. He shook his head, "And if anyone gives you trouble, let me know, even if they are a Gryffindor or something, and I'll take care of it. You are one of Lily's friends after all," he told him. "And, you're a first year, most of the upper years aren't going to respect you, just the way things are." he said with a shrug. Hey, he didn't think he was that bad at trying to comfort him. Maybe. James knew he would probably be doing better if he still wasn't in such a horrible mood. Couldn't this day just end already?

Scorpius looked confused, before he narrowed his eyes and set his mouth in a sneer. "Why are you being so... so nice to me?"

James frowned. What? He couldn't be nice sometime? Was it so odd for him to be nice? It annoyed him. Here he was, trying to be nice, and Scorpius thought something was wrong. The kid even sneered at him! James had to hold himself back, other wise he'd get upset and might do something stupid. ... Did people just think he was a bad person or something? Aleksander seemed to think so, but at least he had good reason, but here Scorpius felt him being nice meant something was wrong. "I don't know how you got it in your head, but I'm not a bad person. Is it so hard to believe that maybe I want to be nice?" he asked. James normally wouldn't do things like this, true, but today was just an awful day for him and maybe doing this was making him feel better. It had at least made him feel better a little while ago. Now, he was just pissed off. He wasn't a bad person! He had a good reason for hurting Albus! He did! He regretted doing it… but… but… did everyone think he was a horrible person?

"Sorry, it's... it's not just you. I'm not used to being cared about..." He muttered, wiping his eyes once more. "I should go finish some homework..." he looked at James, took a deep breath and gave him a hug. It was short, but it made James feel better. It was odd. Why did it make him feel so much better? It even looked like it had made Scorpius feel better. Hugging was something that Lily should like, not him. He decided not to question it any more than he had already had. It had made him fell better and that was good enough for him right now. He watched Scorpius run off before he went back to bed to work on his homework. He had to find someone to get his homework and his class notes form at some point, but he had enough friends, or enough girls who would just do it for him, that it wouldn't be a problem.

Not long after James had finished some of his homework, he heard his sister calling for him. Great. What now? Couldn't this day just end already? He was half tempted to just not respond, have someone say he was sleeping, but it could be important. James pulled himself off of bed and walked down to the common area. "What's wrong Lily?"

"W-well, I went where you told me to go, but I didn't find Severus. I found Severus. We went looking for Severus. We ran into Aleksander, and asked him where Severus was. He told us he was in his bed down in Slytherin and he would give us the password if I gave him the password for Gryffindor," Lily started. So, that was how Aleksander had gotten the password and gotten in here in the first place. He had used Lily's want to make sure Albus was okay against her. James was starting to wish he had actually hurt Aleksander in their fight. He should have just told Lily what happened to begin with and avoid all of this. Lily was clearly upset, so something more must have happened. He just needed to wait and listen to what she said to figure it out. "So, Scorpius and I down to Slytherin to see Severus, but we were attacked when we got down there. James! They hurt Scorpius really bad a-and they hurt me too. I-I tried to do what you told me to do, that spell to make them lose their wand, but it didn't matter! A-another one just grabbed me and… and…" Lily started to cry.

They hurt Lily? Enough that she was crying just talking about it? James wanted to go out and hurt whoever did this to Lily, but not today. He had gone through enough today and… he'd just ask David to take care of it once he figured out who they were. He asked Lily who did it, and she could only give what they looked like. James would just find Scorpius and make him tell him who the Slytherins were and then James would tell David to take care of it for him. He'd just say he was worried about getting in trouble with his father here, and he was sure that David would do it for him. "It's okay Lily. I'll make sure they don't hurt you again," he said softly. He pulled her into a hug. Normally, he didn't have to really try to calm Lily down. He would just go out and take care of her problems for her, make her feel safe again. This had helped Scorpius calm down though, so maybe this would help Lily too.

"Thank you James," Lily said, hugging him back.

"Why don't you run off and eat with your friends? I'm sure that will make you feel better," he told her. She nodded and ran off. James needed to go and get something to eat, and find Scorpius.

As James made his way to the great hall, he stopped when he heard something. He was tempted to not bother with it, as he felt he had dealt with enough today, but James was never one to listen to things like logic. He made his way to see Scorpius pinned to a wall and getting punched by a group of Slytherins. He frowned. His first response was actually why when he did things like this he got caught and lost 200 house points but when these stupid Slytherins did it he was the one who found them. Well, he'd give them a chance to run and if they didn't he'd make sure they'd wish they were found by a teacher. "Hey!" he yelled at the Slytherins. "I'll give you one chance to run like the cowards I'm sure you Slytherins are, or I'll show you how stupid it is to mess with me on a bad day." He already had his wand out, not in the mood to deal with any crap from them. James knew he'd be doing this exact same thing if it had been any other first year Gryffindor, or even a second or third year probably, it just happened that it was Scorpius.

"Come on, Lyra. This little lion's got too many Potters to protect him." they all left, grumbling.

Scorpius looked up at James, anger and tears filling his eyes. "I don't..." he stopped, tears threatening to leak out. He just slammed his fist into the wall. James saw Scorpius' hand buckle and heard a sickening crack, and James was worried he had seriously hurt his hand. "Bugger." he slid down and sat on the floor.

Great. Just great. He couldn't just walk away. This was just not James' day. Though, based on what those kids had said it had told him who had hurt Lily and he knew who was going to end up rather hurt soon. Now he just needed to deal with Scorpius here. He walked over to Scorpius, grabbed him by the back of the shirt and pulled him up. "You know, keep crying like that and they're not going to stop," he pointed out. "You should defend yourself or something. If you don't think you're good enough to do that, I'm sure I can help you with that." And by help he meant having a valid excuse to beat up Scorpius until he was able to defend himself well enough. He paused a moment. "Lily told me what happened before. Those are the kids that did it, right?" Better make sure.

He nodded his head slowly, biting his lip. "They were using the shared pain spell, transmogrify. It takes the pain a person is feeling and multiplies it by a factor of ten. But it's not just the physical pain, it's the mental and emotional pain as well..." He took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. "As for standing up for myself, I can't." he brushed off himself and looked into James' eyes. "I'm just a disgrace."

James frowned, grabbed Scorpius and shoved him against the near by wall. "You're just making excuses. A disgrace? Right now I think I agree with you. You're clearly not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, not good enough," he said. He kept his hold on Scorpius. "I think the worst part about it is you know you're like this and you refuse to do anything about it. So you don't think you're good enough, suck it up and deal with it. Prove your worth something," he said. He paused a moment, thinking things over in his head. I'm going to help you. Until you show some back bone," James punched him, hard, in the chest. "well, I'm going to keep this up, every day." In James' mind, this was a way to help. If Scorpius really didn't stand up for himself after too long, then he'd stop. He wouldn't actually continue this if he felt it wouldn't work, but for right now he'd keep this doubled over in pain. "So what, you'll just walk up and sock me in the gut? Doesn't seem very helpful," he stood his full height and began walking. "But then again, your mind works differently than us normal people," he muttered as he slowly walked to the Great laughed, "something like that." He wouldn't just come and hit him in the same spot every day. James didn't honestly want to hurt him, that would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? Once Scorpius had walked into the Great Hall, James frowned. He wasn't normal, huh? This was just tough love and- ... Now that James thought about it, this was the same reasoning he had attacked his brother before. Maybe there was something wrong with him. He shook his head and went into the Great Hall, and sat down with his friends. As he ate with his friends, he explained to them what happened with Lily and Scorpius in Slytherin and who had done it. With a little convincing, they agreed to go out and beat the Slytherins up. Of course, there was never much of a need to convince his friends to beat up Slytherins.

After he finished eating, he excused himself and went to bed. Screw everything else. He was done with this day and no one was going to change that.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter eight part two:

The company we keep

Lily hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. James had told her that things would be okay, but she was having trouble believe everything would be fine. Her brother was in the Triwizard tournament! What if he died? What if he was hurt? People were supposed to be eighteen to be a part of this thing, not thirteen like her brother was. She hadn't even been able to talk with her brother at all either. He was probably scared. She would be scared if it had been her name called. She had even been having nightmares about her brother getting killed in the tournament.

"Lily," Misa said, leaning over her bed. "Did you not sleep well again last night?" she asked. When Lily nodded, her friend frowned. "Well then, go back to sleep and skip your first class. I'll skip mine too and wake you up. You'll be fine. Our first class is History of Magic and who really care about that?"

"I really like that class, and it's one of the few I have with Scorpius. I don't just want to miss it," Lily complained. She was also supposed to talk with him to his second class and see her brother. She didn't know where Scorpius' second class was, so she wouldn't be able to go with if she didn't got to her first class.

Misa scoffed. "Scorpius, I don't even see why you're friends with him. I don't think he even has any friends other than you and your family. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"Hey, Scorpius is my best friend! Don't say bad things about him," Lily said, frowning.

"I'm telling you, he's bad news. Besides, he's even in all of those advanced classes, with Slytherins. Who does he think he is? He's in Gryffindor, but he might as well be in Slytherin. And all those advanced classes, does he think he's better than the rest of us first years? Just don't worry about him and go back to sleep, you'll be happier if you do," Misa said.

"Stop it! Stop saying such mean things about Scorpius! He's happy to be in Gryffindor, and he's so smart because his dad helped him study a lot before he came to school. You should stop being so mean," Lily said. She didn't understand why most of her friends didn't seem to like Scorpius. It was the reason she never really hung out with Scorpius and the rest of her friends at the same time. Avania and Hugo got along with Scorpius, and that made her happy. She just wished the rest of her friends felt the same way. Scorpius was her best friend, even if her other friends didn't like him.

"What's going on? We're going to be late if we don't head to our first classes soon," Kara said, walking over to them.

"Misa is saying mean things about Scorpius again," Lily said, frowning.

Kara sighed. "Well, I don't like him all that much either, but you need to knock if off Misa. You don't need to argue with Lily about it so often. Now, we need to get going."

"I'm telling Lily to skip her first class because she didn't sleep again last night. She needs sleep," Misa protested. "She just doesn't want to because she doesn't want to miss her class with Scorpius."

"Lily, think about it this way. If you keep not getting and sleep then you'll just collapse and then Scorpius will worry," Kara said.

Lily looked down. She didn't want Scorpius to worry about her. She hadn't even told him that she hadn't been sleeping well. If she collapsed, she would worry Severus and James too. Severus didn't need anything else to worry about right now and James, Lily was sure he was looking after Severus. He shouldn't have to look after her too.

"Alright, fine. I'll skip my first class and get some sleep," Lily said. She crawled back into bed. Even if she tried to sleep, it wasn't as though she actually felt she would.

Tina ran over to them, out of breath, holding onto a small potion. "Misa, I got it," she said.

"Got what?" Lily asked.

"Well, you know my older brother is a seventh year, right? Well, he's really good at potions! He made this one for me. It's supposed to calm you down and help you sleep," Tina said with a smile. "I have enough for a few days worth, and he said he'll make more if you need it."

Lily took the potion from Tina. "How much do I need to drink?"

"Just a few slips, not very much," Tina said, "That is what my brother said. You're not going to take it now are you? We have class in a few minuets."

"She's skipping her first class to get some sleep," Misa said.

"Oh, that's a good idea. Isn't your first class just History of Magic anyway?" Tina asked.

"I do actually like that class," Lily pointed out. She took a few slips of the potion and set it down next to her. It hit her faster than she thought it would, and within a few moments she was out.

XxXxX

When Lily woke up, she looked over at the cloak and jumped out of bed. If she left right now she'd get there in time for her third of the day. "Misa! You were supposed to wake me up!"

"I know, but you were so tired, and it's only two classes you missed," Misa said. "Come on, let's hurry and get to class now. I bet you feel better now though."

"Yeah, I do. I don't like skipping classes though," Lily said. She got out of bed and ran with Misa to their third class of the day. She did feel so much more rested, and this meant she wouldn't have to worry about worrying Scorpius or her brothers. She'd have to tell Scorpius about how sorry she was about not showing up that morning. She was sure he would understand if she just explained what happened.

Lily rushed off to her third class.

XxXxX

Leaving her fourth class, Kara ran over to Lily. "Lily! I've been hearing things, and it sounds like Albus got hurt. Someone saw James taking him to the Hospital Wing earlier today," Kara explained, speaking quickly. She looked scared. "I also heard that both that Slytherin Seeker friend of Albus' was in the Hospital Wing with him, and your cousin Rose too. It has to be bad if they were both there, right?"

Lily felt her heart start to hurt. Her brother was hurt… and she hadn't even gotten to see him this morning. What if it was really bad? "Th-thank you. I-I'm going to and talk with James," she said, running back to the Gryffindor common room. She didn't think that James was going to be there, but her brother was so popular that someone there had to know what class he had now.

She got back to common room and noticed that James was in the room, just sitting on one of the chairs, staring off into space. "James, is it true that Severus got hurt?" When her brother nodded, "what happened? Where is he now? He's not badly hurt is he?" her voice was quick and she felt she might be rambling. She didn't care. Sever was… Severus was hurt somewhere and she had to make sure he was okay.

James was quiet. No! Severus was really hurt wasn't he? What if… what if he was dying? James wouldn't be here in the common room if Severus was dying… right? And… and someone would have told her before now, right? She felt her breath quicken and she wanted to cry. "I think he still needs some rest, but he'll be fine. You should go to the hallway that leads to the potions room."

Lily wasn't sure why James told her to go there, but she trusted what he was telling her. Severus had potions last class of the day, right? What was about to start soon, she knew because Scorpius had told her it was one of two classes they had together. She nodded and ran to where James had told her.

What she found wasn't her brother, but her best friend. "Scorpius!" She ran over to him. "Severus got hurt somehow, and James wouldn't tell me what happened. I thought he was telling me where Severus was, but he sent me here instead," she paused a moment, looking upset. "y-you don't think Severus is really hurt, do you?"

Scorpius looked up and walked up to greet her. He looked distraught and wrapped his arms around Lily as she told him about her brother. "I'm sorry... would you like me to help you find him?" He looked around and sighed as the bell for the last class rang. Lily didn't care that she had only gone to two classes today anymore. She needed to find her brother and it looked like Severus was going to help look for him. Scorpius was her best friend, and him being here made her feel better. It didn't matter what Misa said, or the fact that Kara and Tina didn't really like him either. They weren't here offering to help her. Kara even knew what was going on and she didn't even try to comfort her.

Lily nodded to Scorpius. If they could find Severus, then she could make sure he was okay. He had to be okay, just thinking that he might not be was enough to make her want to cry. "Yeah, let's go and try to find him. If he's hurt, there's only so many places he could be, right?" James would have told her if it was really bad, right? Of course he would. He would have too. Right? She didn't know, and just thinking about all of this was enough to upset her. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

The moment the words left Lily's lips, Aleksander turned the corner. "Alek!" Scorpius called to the boy who stopped in his tracks and turned to face the blonde.

"As much as I enjoy your company, Scorpius, I vould like to haff a reign check on the conversation."

Scorpius held up a hand and smiled. "We just want to know where Severus is, Lily's worried about him because James wouldn't..."

Alek growled at the mention of James and his eyes grew dark. "I vill tell you vere Severus is if you tell me the password to Gryffindor Tover." He looked over Lily with a calculating glance.

At first, Lily was happy they had found Aleksander. If anyone knew where her brother was, it would be him, right? Though, she moved closer to Scorpius when she saw that look he got at the mention of James. "You're not going to hurt James, right?" she asked. Of course he wasn't. There wouldn't be any reason for him to want to hurt James. She wasn't sure why her first thought was that Aleksander would want to hurt James, and she quickly pushed it out of her head. Her need to make sure that Severus was okay was soon overwhelming her feeling she should figure out why Aleksander wanted to get into the Gryffindor common room. "The password is Flying Buttresses. Now, where is Severus right now?" she asked, no longer caring about getting an answer to her first question.

Aleksander smiled and repeated the password, making sure he had it. "Alvight, Severus is sleeping in the Slytherin dorms. the passvord is Lacuna Lata and he is in the third year dorm on the right." He nodded once to them and took off to the Gryffindor common room.

Lily turned to Scorpius. "Come on, let's go. We need to make sure Severus is okay," she said, taking his hand and pulling him towards where the Slytherin dungeon was. She didn't even think that they might have trouble just walking in the common room and into where her brother was. No, she just wanted to make sure that her brother was okay. Well, classes were still going on so she guessed there wouldn't be a lot of students so it should be fine, right? Scorpius just nodded and followed along with her.

Once they get to the painting to the Slytherin common room, Lily stopped and held tighter to Scorpius' hand. "Well, let's go." she said softly. She said the password and the door opened. She only then realized that this made her nervous, but she pushed it aside. "Stay close to me." It was more for herself to feel better than anything else. She was soon walking down into the Slytherin common room. She'd have to find the third year beds once they were actually down there.

"Look, Lyra, it's a couple of little lions. Seems like they are a bit far from there den..." Lynx's voice broke through as Scorpius passed the entrance. He winced,, and moved ahead of Lily. Lynx's face twisted into a smirk and he walked forward, Lyra coming up behind the pair.

"So, now you're protecting your girlfriend? I thought that was her job?" Lyra snickered as she pulled out her wand and placed it against Lily's throat. She held her back as Scorpius whirled around and tried to pull out his wand, but Lynx was on him before he could move. Lily felt her heart start to race, and she wasn't sure what to do. This wasn't suppose to happen! She was supposed to come down here and make sure her brother was okay! Not get attacked by some Slytherins. They seemed to know Scorpius, but that didn't seem to be a good thing. They… this group of Slytherins were going to attack them; they already were attacking them.

"Emil, Greg. Come hold this traitor so I can give him a piece of our mind..." Scorpius struggled against the heavy arms of Emil, looking helplessly to Lily.

"Run..." He mouthed to her as Lyra lowered her wand to watch.

Lily shook her head. She couldn't run and leave Scorpius in this situation. She couldn't do it. She had to do something to help, but she didn't even know what spells she could do to help him. She was panicking and couldn't make herself move. Something, she had to do something. She took out her wand. While she might not know what to do as far as spells, she could fake it, right? "L-Leave him alone," she said, trying to make her voice sound stronger than it was. She had her wand pointing at Lyra. Wait! She did remember one that James had taught her to do if someone was being mean to hurt with magic! "Exspelliamus," she said, hoping that she had said it right and would make Lyra lose her wand.

Lyra's wand flew out of her hand, but Emil's sister took her place and held Lily's hands behind her back."Well, well. Scorpius, it seems your girlfriend really does like being a sodding Potter. Always has to play the hero... Is that why you like her, Malfoy?" Lynx punched him in the stomach, smirking with satisfaction as Scorpius doubled over in pain. "She's always there to protect you." One more punch."Just." Punch. "Like." Punch. "Daddy." One of the Slytherins took out their wand and muttered "transmogrify" Lily was helpless and could only watch as her best friend kept getting hurt. Why did these kids want to hurt them so badly? She thought about who could actually come and help them. Roxanne and Dominique were both in Slytherin, and and... ."LILY!" Scorpius shouted, trying to break free from this feeing. He tried to move to her, tried to stop but it was too late."transmogrify!" Lyra recovered her wand and pointed it directly at Lily.

She heard Scorpius yell her name and-Lily screamed as she felt the spell hit her. She didn't know what that spell did, only that she was suddenly in pain, and started to cry. She still didn't understand why this was happening. She was in so much pain, and she knew Scorpius had to be in worse pain than she was. He had gotten hurt before they used that spell on him, and now he had gotten hit with whatever this spell was. It hurt so badly…

"Hey, knock it off. Leave them alone." Lily looked up and saw Severus standing there, holding his wand out and pointing it at the other Slytherins. Lily was starting to wonder if this was why James hated Slytherins so much, but they all weren't like this. Severus was nice, and, from what she could tell, Aleksander was nice, and her cousins were nice. Scorpius looked up through pain filled eyes over at Severus.

"What do you care Potter? It's not like we... oh..." Lynx looked from Scorpius to Lily and then back to Severus. "Um, you see... we didn't know it was your sister... we uh..." He let go of Scorpius and backed slowly away. "We'll just be going..." and they all ran up into their respective dorms.

Scorpius tried to stand up, but failed. "Thanks..." he looked over at Lily, before collapsing on the floor.

Severus used his wand and made any bruises Scorpius had gotten disappear. "Finite Incantatem," he said. "Lily, why are you two down here?" he asked."I... I heard you were hurt, and we came to make sure you're okay," Lily said. Her pain was gone, and she pulled herself into a sitting position. After all of this, he was fine. It made her feel better, that at least she was sure of that. "Look, I'm perfectly fine now. It wasn't as bad as they thought. I'll wait here with you two until you're both doing better, but then you should get out of here so something like that doesn't happen again." Severus gave his sister a hug.

That pain she had felt... Lily wasn't used to pain, having not gotten hurt a whole lot as a child or up until this point in her life. It was something she hadn't been used to, so it probably made things worse for her. She wiped her tears away, and calmed down after a few moments after the pain had stopped. "Scorpius, are you okay? I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help you." It didn't seem fair, and she felt he must have suffered so much more than she had, and she had been in a lot of pain.

Scorpius pressed his hand to his forehead, "Thanks Severus, but the less I spend in this place, the better." He stood up and smiled at Lily. "I'm going back to the common room, I'll meet you there later." with that, he stood up and walked out of the room and towards the watched Scorpius leave, and turned back to her brother. "I'm glad you're okay. I think I should head back too, now that I know that you're okay," she said. She was still a bit shaken up over what had happened. She hugged Severus again, before leaving. If they had to do this again, Lily would make sure they used that invisible cloak she had found in her bag at the beginning of the year. They should have used that this time. She was soon on her way back to Gryffindor. As Lily started to walk to the Gryffindor common room, she was stopped by Misa, Kara, and Tina. "Did you find your- Lily, what's wrong?" Kara asked.

Lily tried to not start crying again. "I.. Scorpius and me went down into the Slytherin common room because Aleksander said Severus was there and-and we were attacked. If Severus hadn't saved us, I don't know what would have happened."

Kara gave Lily a hug. "It's okay. You're safe now."

"I told you that Scorpius was bad news. I'm sure if you went down there on your own you wouldn't have gotten hurt like that," Misa said.

"Knock if off Misa, now is not the time for that," Kara said.

"I think it's the perfect time. It only proves my point. Lily, you need to-" Misa started.

"Stop it! Scorpius tried to protect me. He's my best friend, and… and if you don't stop talking so badly about him, I-I'm not going to keep hanging out with you," Lily said. "He's a good person, and you need to stop judging him."

Misa frowned, "I'm sorry Lily. I'll keep my options about Scorpius to myself."

"You shouldn't have gone down there with just Scorpius anyway," Tina said.

"But, I had to make sure Severus was okay," Lily protested.

"You said you talked to, what was his name?, Alexander? Well, he should have taken you right to your brother instead of letting you go alone like this," Tina said.

"He was… he had to get into the Gryffindor common room," Lily said.

"Why did he need to get into the Gryffindor common room?" Misa asked.

"I don't know," Lily said. It was only then that it hit her that maybe it had to do with James. "I-I got to go," she ran to the Gryffindor common room. She already had one brother hurt today, she didn't want another one hurt.

"James!" She called once she was back in the common room.

He walked down from the fourth year beds. "What is it?" he asked.

"W-well, I went where you told me to go, but I didn't find Severus. I found Scorpius. We went looking for Severus. We ran into Aleksander, and asked him where Severus was. He told us he was in his bed down in Slytherin and he would give us the password if I gave him the password for Gryffindor," Lily started. "So, Scorpius and I down to Slytherin to see Severus, but we were attacked when we got down there. James! They hurt Scorpius really bad a-and they hurt me too. I-I tried to do what you told me to do, that spell to make them lose their wand, but it didn't matter! A-another one just grabbed me and… and…" Lily started to cry.

"It's okay Lily. I'll make sure they don't hurt you again," he said softly. He pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you James," Lily said, hugging him back. James was okay. Both of her brothers were okay, and James was going to protect her and make sure those Slytherins didn't hurt her again. She was feeling so much better already.

"Why don't you run off and eat with your friends? I'm sure that will make you feel better," he told her. She nodded and ran off. She felt bad that just left her friends in the middle of their fight. She needed to find them and tell them she was sorry, but she was still feeling like she was right about Scorpius. He was a good person, and her best friend. No matter what happened. It wasn't his fault what happened, and James was going to take care of things. Everything was fine.

When she got to The Great Hall, she sat down next to her friends. "I'm sorry about before. I just remembered something that I needed to take care of. It's just been a long day and I don't want to fight."

"I am sorry about what I said about Scorpius. I'm sure he can't be all bad if you're friends with him," Misa said.

Lily's eyes soon caught sight of Scorpius. She waved at him and smiled when he came over and sat down next to him. Misa sighed, but didn't say anything. None of her friends said anything.

Scorpius slouched down next to Lily and placed his head on her shoulder. "Don't ask, just let me cuddle," he muttered.

Lily was concerned when Scorpius first came and sat down next to her. Something was wrong, she could tell right away. Before she could ask what was wrong, he had his head on her shoulder and asked her to cuddle. She wouldn't ask anything if he didn't want her too. She figured that it had something to do with what happened when they were in the Slytherin common room. She wrapped an arm around Scorpius, and just sat like that. She wanted to help, and if this would help then this would be what she would do.

Scorpius looked down at the food. "Lily I..." he was looking for an excuse and the found one. "I didn't finish my Astronomy homework and I have class tonight at Midnight so." He stood up and quickly ran out of the Great Hall.

Lily watched Scorpius leave. He hadn't even eaten anything. She wanted to follow him, to make sure he was okay, but didn't. If he said he was going to go and do homework, she believed him and didn't want to get in his way. After a few moments, she went back to talking with her friends as she had been doing before. If Scorpius still wasn't acting like himself later today, she would try to do something to help him.

At least the day was over now. She'd go and work on her homework with her friends. She would have to go and make sure Scorpius was okay later, but right now she would just try and relax for the rest of the day.


End file.
